Hickson 51 in Leo

HICKSON	NAME	SIZE (M)	MAG (V)	SB
51a	NGC 3651	1.1X1.1	13.2	13.4
51b	IC 2759	0.8X0.6	14.6	13.5
51c	NGC 3653	0.9X0.6	13.6	12.8
51d	MCG+04-27-030	0.3X0.3	14.7	11.7
51e	MCG+04-27-027	0.3X0.3	14.1	11.0
51f	PGC 34899	0.5X0.2	14.2
51g	PGC 34901		15.2

Hickson 51 in Leo is a challenging quintet packed into a 5' circle and located four degrees northeast of Delta Leonis (V = 2.6). The brightest members, NGC 3651 and NGC 3653, were discovered by William Herschel in 1785 during his comprehensive survey of the northern skies from England. He missed the fainter three members that I glimpsed in my 17.5" but it's easy to see why. Glowing dimly at 14th and 15th magnitude they required high power and patience to identify. - Steve Gottlieb