Combination of 10, 3 minute exposures, SBIG ST9XE CCD camera.
300mm f/6 newtonian telescope at prime focus.
NGC 6822 is a bright irregular galaxy in Sagittarius, sometimes called the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy and sometimes Barnard's Galaxy. At magnitude 10.3, it is fairly bright, however its large size means that the surface brightness is quite low. Low magnification definitely provides the best views. In an 8" telescope it appears as a large, fairly faint, irregular patch of light, almost buried amongst the rich starfield. Of interest are several bubbles of gas to the north-west (upper left) of the galaxy. These appear to be supernovae remnents. I do not know of any visual observations of these objects, however they would make an interesting challenge for southern hemisphere observers with 20" + telescopes.
The galaxy contains numerous star-forming regions and young clusters. Gas surrounding these regions has been blown back by the vigerous stellar winds from these hot stars, creating giant bubbles of gas which are visible in the image below, to the north-west (upper left) of the galaxy. I do not know of any visual observations of these objects, however they would make an interesting challenge for southern hemisphere observers with 20" + telescopes.
