Looking up towards the North in my bortle 4 sky reveals bright stars which are somewhat recognizable like Cygnus, Cassiopeia, The Big Dipper, and the rectangle of the big bear (Ursa Major). There doesn’t appear to be much else this time of year, especially with a bright moon, but looks can be deceiving.
When imaging this target with 5 minute exposures (071mc) at a 1625mm focal length (RC8), a faint smudge appears where the galaxy is supposed to be. This is not one of those big bright galaxies we so often see photographed. This image is an integration of 11 hours of exposure. Even then it’s a fairly faint target. A plate-solved version is available here on my Astrobin collection including all of the imaging technical details.
American astronomer Edwin Foster Coddington discovered IC 2574 in 1898. It’s classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy because of its small size and lack of structure. IC 2574 is a member of the M81 group of galaxies (Bode’s, Cigar, Garland galaxies), which is one of the closest groups to our local group. It contains active star-forming regions that show strong H-alpha emissions, especially in the lower left part of the galaxy in my image.
Astronomers consider IC 2574 an irregular dwarf galaxy because it’s small, lacks structure, and is forming stars. Dwarf galaxies are small galaxies made up of a few billion stars. In 1898 it looked like a smear and therefore was called a nebula by Edwin Coddington. Improved resolution of telescopes over time revealed it to be a galaxy. Of course now with the Hubble Telescope, a population census is possible. Cheers!
