I don't remember exactly when and where I came across NGC 7764a, this tiny distorted clump of galaxies. Perhaps while looking through the Arp-Madore catalog (this system is listed as AM 2350-410 in the catalog of peculiar galaxies of the southern hemisphere). In May this little group is in a very unfavorable location in the constellation of Phoenix. So I only had a short window before dawn when it was already not grazing the horizon.

On better photos (e.g. HST, DESI), the group consists of three galaxies which are located at a similar distance - about 420 million light years away. Although the redshift data don't match exactly (the range is from z = 0.0295 to z = 0.031). The central galaxy is ESO 293-8 which is supposed to be 13.2^m bright based on the catalog but in the 16" telescope it seemed very faint. And I saw it quite inaccurately compared to the photo. The other two galaxies are the merging LEDA 72755 and the separate LEDA 72769. They may be around 15^m and are extremely faint in the telescope. But I dare to say that they were visible although a question mark could be added. The observation was significantly hindered by the low altitude above the horizon and the approaching dawn.

Comparison with the photograph

You can see the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image on the left made with the ACS and the  WFC3 detectors and also the DECam camera on the 4m Víctor M. Blanco Telescope. Next to it you can find my 16" drawing inverted, rotated and cropped to somewhat match the Hubble frame.

If I'm being very straight I could say there is not much in common. Nevertheless it was a pleasure to see even this much of this very distant, faint and yet very interetsting system.