Hickson 42 in Hydra

HICKSON	NAME	SIZE (M)	MAG (V)	SB
42a	NGC 3091	3.0X1.9	11.1	13.0
42b	NGC 3096	1.0X0.8	13.4	13.0
42c	MCG-03-26-006	0.4X0.4	13.2	11.1
42d	PGC 28926	0.5X0.3	15.2

Hickson 42 in Hydra lies about 6 degrees west of the bright planetary NGC 3242 ("Ghost of Jupiter"). The galaxy group is dominated by the 11th magnitude elliptical, NGC 3091, that contains a compact luminous core and is visible in 6" scopes. See if you can spot a 14 magnitude "star" close off the northwest edge. This object is the compact galaxy 42c and on deep exposures appears embedded in the halo of NGC 3091. A third member, NGC 3096 (42b), is a faint 14th magnitude glow about 5' southeast of NGC 3091. - Steve Gottlieb