NGC 7436 - Galaxy Group
The galaxy group around NGC 7436 is about 340 million light years away from Earth and is located in the constellation Pegasus.
The brightest galaxy of the group (NGC 7436) has a magnitude of 12.4mag and was discovered by F.W. Herschel in 1784. It is an elliptical galaxy of
Hubble Type E2 with a diameter of 220,000 light years. So it could also be classified as a giant ellipse. Its absolute magnitude is M= -22.6mag, which
corresponds to a luminosity of nearly 100 billion suns. Right next to it there is a smaller galaxy called NGC 7436A, which interacts with NGC 7436.
About 8 arcminutes southeast you can find UGC 12274, which also belongs to this group. This is a SAa type spiral galaxy with a diameter of 120,000
light years.
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In my 20 inch f/3.2 telescope, a group of fainter galaxies shows up in the eyepiece, with NGC 7436 appearing much brighter than the other galaxies. It has
a bright central area.
Right next to it, NGC 7436A is visible as a faint, diffuse and slightly oval patch of light. The two galaxy halos seem to touch each other. Slightly off to the
side is UGC 12274, which is easy to spot at 270x with averted vision. The galaxy appears slightly elongated with an elongation of 3:1 and is located next
to a brighter star.
Overall a nice galaxy group for larger telescopes.
