Object name: NGC5981
Designation(s): NGC5981, NGC5982, NGC5985,
NGC 5981, NGC 5982 and NGC 5985, right to left, are usually known as the \"Draco Triplet\" though there are other triples in the constellation these are the brightest. This was a very early image when I had little skill in digital imaging as my 50 years of film work didn\'t prepare me well for this new mode. The quality of the image is very poor for the quality of the night it was taken. I didn\'t do research nor even have software to annotate an image. Fortunately, these three are all of major interest in the image. They aren\'t as related as they appear to be. NGC 5985 is a barred spiral about 110 million light years away, NGC 5982 an E3 Elliptical galaxy about 130 million light years out and NGC 5981 is an edge on spiral, like NGC 5746 above but with the normal ball-shaped core region. It is the smallest in apparent size. That might make you think it the most distant but actually its the closest as about 80 million light years. Thus it is also, by far, the smallest of the three. Notice how much smaller it is than giant NGC 5746 above yet that galaxy is 25% farther away. Not much on the net of these guys but lots of photos by other amateurs.NGC 5981 was found by George Stoney on May 6, 1850. The other two were found much earlier by William Herschel on May 25, 1788. NGC 5985 is in the second H400 program. NGC 5982 is in the original program. My notes from my entry on May 18, 1985 with my 10\" f/5 on a humid night at 120x read: \"Small, round galaxy with a bright core that\'s nearly but not quite starlike. It\'s large neighbor, NGC 5985, is more interesting so why isn\'t it in this program?\" Guess it had to wait for the second version.Being a very early image I didn\'t do any research on this one. I just wrote this for the web and will do a good version, with a much better image, as time allows.14\" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10\' RGB=2x10\', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
Permanent link: http://images.mantrapskies.com/catalog/NGC/NGC5981-NGC5982-NGC5985/NGC5982L4X10RGB2X10R.jpg
Alternate Designation(s): 1RXS J153840.1+592118, 2MASS J15375348+5923305, 2MASS J15383980+5921209, 2MASS J15393707+5919553, 2MASX J15375266+5923382, 2MASX J15375345+5923304, 2MASX J15383977+5921212, 2MASX J15393708+5919550, 2MFGC 12588, CGCG 1536.8+5933, CGCG 1537.6+5931, CGCG 1538.6+5930, CGCG 297-023, CGCG 297-024, CGCG 297-025, EON J234.473+59.392, GALEXASC J153839.96+592121.1 , GALEXMSC J153840.31+592119.2 , HOLM 719A, HOLM 719B, HOLM 719C, IRAS 15368+5933, IRAS 15385+5929, IRAS F15368+5933, IRAS F15385+5929, ISOSS 074, ISOSS J15378+5923, ISOSS J15396+5919, KTG 64A, KTG 64B, KTG 64C, LDCE 1141 NED001, LDCE 1141 NED002, LDCE 1141 NED003, LGG 402:[G93] 001, LGG 402:[G93] 004, LQAC 234+059 003, LQAC 234+059 005, MCG +10-22-027, MCG +10-22-029, MCG +10-22-030, NGC 5981, NGC 5982, NGC 5985, NGC5981, NGC5982, NGC5985, NSA 146289, NSA 146317, NSA 166335, NVSS J153936+592000, PGC 055647, PGC 055674, PGC 055725, RX J1538.6+5921, RX J1538.6+5921:[BEV98] 001, RX J1538.6+5921:[ZEH2003] 01 , SDSS J153753.45+592330.3, SDSS J153839.82+592121.0, SSTSL2 J153753.49+592330.8, SSTSL2 J153839.81+592121.5, SSTSL2 J153937.07+591955.2, UGC 09948, UGC 09961, UGC 09969, UZC J153753.4+592329, UZC J153839.9+592121, UZC J153937.1+591955, UZC-CG 240 NED02, UZC-CG 240 NED03, UZC-CG 240 NED04, [M98j] 247 NED01, [M98j] 247 NED02, [M98j] 247 NED03, [SLK2004] 1157, [SLK2004] 1158, [VCV2001] J153936.8+591951, [VCV2006] J153936.8+591951,