This gorgeous pair of spirals in Triangulum is seldom photographed, and presents a bit of a processing challenge because both are of low surface brightness. NGC672 on the upper left, is 11.5 magnitude and spread out over 7.3 arcminutes. It does not have a stellar core and is rather vague in details. There are however, several bright pink HII regions and several blue OB associations to see here. Its companion, IC1727 is half a magnitude fainter, and 6.9 arcminutes making them twins for size. Very few details can be seen in this object, just a pair of OB groupings off to its canted core bar. It is classed as a SB spiral.

Just to the left is MAC 0147+2717 an anonymous galaxy at 16th magnitude (bright) which is some type of edge on spiral. Its deep yellow color is from intergalactic extinction. A final note, the bright orange star to the lower right is 9.4 magnitude, with a B-V (color index) of 1.8. Probably a K or M type.

I was a bit concerned by the color balance at first in this image. A quick check in the Wray Color Atlas of Galaxies confirmed however that I was right on, and my color calibrations was accurate.

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian
Platform:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  SBIG ST8i
Exposure:  LRGB = 60:20:20:40 (RGB Binned 2x2)
RGB Combine Ratio:  1: .75: 1
Filters:  RGB Tricolor
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FMHW = 2.5 arcsec, Transparency 8/10
Outside Temperature:  5 C
CCD Temperature:  -10 C
Processing:  Maxim DL, Photoshop, AIP4WIN, PW Pro.

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