DEEP-SKY-OBJECTS

The constellation of Dorado is famous for the Large Magellanic Cloud but is also home to some other more distant galaxies. Find mag. +3.27 Alpha (_) Doradus, and 0.5° northwest lies the mag. +10.3, edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 1617 (RA 4hr 31.7m, Dec. –54° 36’) which has a stellar nucleus with an intense elongated core of about 4x1 arcminutes.

From there, move 4.5° south-southeast to the barred spiral NGC 1672 (pictured: RA 4hr 45.7m, Dec. –59° 15’). The mag. +9.7 galaxy is an extended nebulous object that offers much to the patient observer. It has a small, round nucleus with a hazy oval core extending east-west (its bar). A fainter halo extends northward. Averted vision shows mottling and, if you’re lucky, the ghostly image of its only spiral arm extending from the eastern end of the bar to the north.