Zwickys Necklace
| Name | Zwicky's Necklace |
| Object Type(s) | Galaxy, Galaxy Cluster |
| Relevant Catalog(s) | All (Chron) |
| Obs. Lat/Long | 42° 17', 073° 57' |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Date and Time Observed | 2025-07-18 22:12:00 |
| Instrument | EdgeHD 8" w/f7 reducer-1,422mm FL |
| Camera | Player One Apollo-M Mini |
| Image Details | Up is 355.9 degrees E of N. Transparency: Excellent. Seeing: Excellent. Total integration time was 17m 30s. Exposures 15s@300g, No Filter. Dithered and recentered in SharpCap. No guiding. |
| Description | I lucked out on the night the "stars aligned" for me to capture this notoriously challenging target -- possibly the best observing night during the summer of 2025. It was a night of unusually clear skies, no moon, excellent transparency (no smoke for once!) and excellent seeing. And it showed, because this target became visible almost immediately. I decided to start observing this cluster about 45 minutes before Astronomical Dusk, when the target was just around 35° elevation. I figured that would be better than waiting until the sky was darker, but the object lower. And so it worked out, though it meant that SharpCap's histogram was shifting left on every capture. These are all obscure galaxies which were discovered by Zwicky's project, the Palomar sky survey using the 48" Schmidt Telescope, that was published during the 1960s. Zwicky, Sargent, and Kowa published a paper on this cluster in 1975, where they listed the magnitudes as ranging from 16.9 to 19.3. The brightest galaxy, at the left end of the handle, is PGC 3110345. |
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