Galaxy NGC 772

NGC 772
NGC 772: Galaxy in Aries; 500 mm Cassegrain f/7.2; SBIG STL11K; 130-40-40-40 min LRGB; Bernese Highlands; © 2011 Radek Chromik

History

The galaxy NGC 772 was discovered on November 29, 1785 by the German-British astronomer William Herschel with his 18.7 inch reflector telescope. The small companion galaxy NGC 770 remained undiscovered until November 3, 1855. During that night it was discovered by the Irish astronomer RJ Mitchell using Lord Rosse's large 72 inch reflector telescope. [196, 277]

In Halton Arp's 1966 Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, the two galaxies are listed as Arp 78, a spiral galaxy with a small companion with high surface brightness. [199]

Physical Properties

The two galaxies interact gravitationally with one another and are about 36 Mpc away. [145, 439]

«Catalogue of Principal Galaxies (PGC)», Paturel et al. 1989 [144]
NameRA [hms]Dec [dms]mTypeDim [']Btot [mag]HRV [km/s]PA [°]
NGC 77001 59 13.1+18 57 19E M1.1 x .814.0244215
NGC 77201 59 20.3+19 00 22S M7.5 x 4.311.12458130

Finder Chart

The galaxy NGC 772 is located in the constellation Aries. The best time to observe is August to February, when it is highest at night.

Chart NGC 772
Chart created using SkySafari 6 Pro and STScI Digitized Sky Survey. [149, 160]

References

144Catalogue of Principal Galaxies (PGC); Paturel G., Fouque P., Bottinelli L., Gouguenheim L.; Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 80, 299 (1989); cdsarc.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/VII/119 (2021-02-18)
145SIMBAD astronomical database; simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad
149SkySafari 6 Pro, Simulation Curriculum; skysafariastronomy.com
160The STScI Digitized Sky Survey; archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form
196Celestial Atlas by Curtney Seligman; cseligman.com/text/atlas.htm (2020-12-28)
199Atlas Of Peculiar Galaxies, Halton Arp; ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Arp_contents.html (2020-12-28)
277«Historische Deep-Sky Kataloge» von Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke; klima-luft.de/steinicke (2021-02-17)
439«The Interacting System NGC 7753--7752 (Arp 86). II. N-Body Modeling» Salo, Heikki ; Laurikainen, Eija; Astrophysical Journal v.410, p.586, June 1993; DOI:10.1086/172777