The mighty Pegasus reigns supreme on the evenings of late September and October, rightly famous for its “Grand Plaza” that stretches across The southern meridian is about 50° high at approximately 23:45 BST. NGC 7479 (Caldwell 44), popularly known as the “Helix Galaxy”, is easy to spot, lying just 3° south of Markab (alpha Pegasi), the star in the south-west (lower right) corner of the square. In late September, from London, NGC 7479 transits the southern meridian (culminates) at about 50° high at approximately 23:45 BST. Unfortunately, it is out of range with 10×50 binoculars.
NGC 7479 is a magnitude +11 object spanning 4.1' x 3.2' at its greatest extent and appearing face-on to our line of sight. It is a difficult galaxy to observe through a small telescope, although a bright core can be seen through an 80 mm (~3 inch) telescope, while a 100-150 mm (4-6 inch) telescope shows its pronounced bar surrounded by a 3' x 2' north-south oriented halo.
On a clear, stable night, some subtle spotting can be achieved, although you will need a 300mm (12 inch) aperture to be able to see the central bar.
Imagers often produce magnificent images showing two large spiral arms sprouting from a north-south oriented bar, one extending northeast and the other southwest, and eventually curving south and north of the bar, respectively.
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