Hickson 61 in Coma Berenices

HICKSONNAMESIZE (M) MAG (V)SB
61aNGC 41691.8X0.9 12.212.6
61bNGC 41735.0X0.7 13.014.2
61cNGC 41751.8X0.4 13.212.6
61dNGC 41740.8X0.3 13.311.7

Hickson 61 is situated in the northwest corner of Coma Berenices and consists of a remarkably symmetric quartet of NGC galaxies forming a nearly perfect rectangle with dimensions of 2.5'x1.0'. The brightest member, NGC 4169, is a high surface brightness lenticular oriented NNW-SSE while NGC 4173 and NGC 4175 are virtually collinear edge-on streaks on the east side of the "box". The smallest member, NGC 4174, contains a prominent compact core. - Steve Gottlieb