NGC 247 Spiral Galaxy in Cetus

NGC 247 is one of the Herschel 400 deep sky objects. It is very large and very dim with a magnitude 14.2 surface brightness. Although the center is fairly bright, the outer regions of the spiral arms are very dim. You should just be able to see the central area of the galaxy with a 8-inch scope, but seeing the spiral arms will take dark skies and a large scope. I was just able to capture the arms in an 120 minute CCD exposure from my suburban location.

	Scope: 8" LX 200 SCT
	MX-5C CCD Camera, STAR 2000 and IDAS LPR
	Focal Ratio: f3.3
	Exposure: 120 min (six 20 min combined)
	Click here for the SEDS NGC Catalog Click here for IAAC Observing Impressions
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NGC 247 Spiral Galaxy
NGC 247 is one of the Herschel 400 deep sky objects. It is very large and very dim with a magnitude 14.2 surface brightness. Although the center is fairly bright, the outer regions of the spiral arms are very dim. You should just be able to see the central area of the galaxy with a 8-inch scope, but seeing the spiral arms will take dark skies and a large scope. I was just able to capture the arms in an 120 minute CCD exposure from my suburban location.
	Constellation: Cetus Size: 21.4 x 6.0 arcmin Magnitude: 9.1 Surface Brightness: 14.2 RA: 00h 47m 8.7s Dec: -20d 45m 38s