ESO 270-17

The Fourcade-Figueroa Object

ESO 270-17
ESO 270-17
By Scott Mellish

ESO 270-17
18/03/10
“Fourcade-Figueroa Object”
Galaxy
Centaurus
Ilford NSW Australia
56cm f5 Dobsonian telescope
Field: 15′
Magnification: 314
Centaurus
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:31

This is a sketch I done recently of the elusive galaxy ESO 270-17, sometimes described as the “Fourcade-Figueroa object”. Studies have shown that this galaxy could quite possibly have collided with NGC 5128 “Centaurus A” in the distant past and thus is considered as a “shred”.

The alignment of the dust band of NGC 5128 with ESO 270-17 and also its lack of rotation has lead researchers to conclude that this quite faint galaxy
had collision based origins.

A dark sky site and some decent aperture are essential for observing this unusual object.

Scott Mellish

2 thoughts on “The Fourcade-Figueroa Object”

  1. Hello Scott,

    Good job!
    We have also seen this galaxy from Crete Greece when we were there in April. It was really difficult but barely visible with an 4.5″ reflector. Do you know that Fourcade-Figueroa has a twin brother in Lupus? It’s PGC 54392 (15 14 14 – 46 48 45)? Edge-on galaxy with the same dimensions and brightness. Have you seen that?

    Regards
    Gabor Santa
    Leader of Deepsky Section in Hungarian Astronomical Association

  2. Gabor.

    Thank you. I have been away observing for the last four days, so sorry for the late reply.

    You have me interested, I have never observed ESO 270-17 in anything under a 25cm scope, So a 4.5″ is very good.
    These type of galaxies can be a chance in small scopes as they tend to contrast better with the richer star fields.

    I am going to try for it next observing session with a small scope to see how I fair.

    As for ESO 274-1 in Lupus, yes this is a very similar object and I sketched it back in July 2000 in a 41cm dob.

    Again this object is located in a rather rich star field.

    Both are very intriguing objects.

    Scott.

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