NGC 7463 - Galaxy Group
The galaxy group around "NGC 7463" is located about 100 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Pegasus and is best observed in the
autumn months.
The brightest galaxy NGC 7463 is a barred spiral of Hubble Type SBb and was found in 1784 by F.W. Herschel. It has an apparent brightness of 12.2mag,
which corresponds to an absolute magnitude of M= -20.5mag and a luminosity of 15 billion suns. So it is a bit fainter than our own galaxy. Its spiral arms
can be traced over a length of nearly 90,000 light years.
Directly south of it lies NGC 7464, which is much dimmer with an apparent magnitude of 13.3mag and therefore was found 80 years later by P. d'Arrest. It
is a small elliptical galaxy of type E1 and a size of 15,000 lightyears. To the southeast is NGC 7465, a lenticular SB0-type galaxy with an extent of 60,000
light-years and an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Also of note is UGC 12321, located northeast of the group next to three brighter stars, at a distance of
101 million light-years from us and of type Sbc.
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In a 20" telescope, the first thing that catches your eye is a bright 8.2mag star. Northeast of it the galaxy NGC 7463 can be seen, which shows some details
at a magnification of 270x. In the center a brighter bar can be seen, which is located in a somewhat extended halo. The very faint spiral arms can only be
seen with averted vision and unfortunately cannot be traced over the whole length. Next to it NGC 7464 shows up as a faint, roundish, diffuse patch of light
with a somewhat brighter center.
NGC 7465 is again pleasantly bright, slightly oval and shows a brighter stellar core in the center - an indication of the galaxy's AGN. UGC 12321 is relatively
faint, but easily visible with averted vision and appears slightly elongated with an elongation of 3:1.
