Hickson 76 in Serpens

HICKSON	NAME	SIZE (M)	MAG (V)	SB
76a	NGC 5944	0.7X0.2	14.9	12.7
76b	NGC 5941	0.7X0.6	13.9	12.7
76c	NGC 5942	0.7X0.7	14.3	13.2
76d	MCG+01-40-002	0.4X0.3	13.9	na
76e	PGC 55325	0.2X0.2	16.0	na
76f	PGC 55313	0.2X0.2	15.8	na
76g	PGC 55307	0.6X0.1	16.3	na

This rectangular quartet consists of three NGC galaxies, although NGC 5941 and NGC 5942 (discovered by Lewis Swift) have been misidentified in nearly all modern catalogues. I felt the brightest member visually was NGC 5941 ("B") which appeared faint, fairly small, elongated 4:3 SW-NE, 0.7'x0.5', weak concentration to a brighter core, faint stellar nucleus. NGC 5944 ("A") situated 2.6' SE is very faint, round, 30" diameter, weak concentration with a slightly brighter core. NGC 5942 ("C") is very faint, very small, round, 20" diameter with a stellar nucleus at moments. A mag 14.5 star is off the NW side 45" from center. This is the third brightest in the group. The faintest member MCG +01-40-002 ("D") is 2.0' SE and appears extremely faint, very small, 15" diameter, low even surface brightness. A mag 15 star is 1.1' SE. - Steve Gottlieb