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UGC 8303, Gary Imm

UGC 8303

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UGC 8303, Gary Imm

UGC 8303

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Description

This obscure object is an irregular galaxy located 50 million light years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici. Besides its UGC designation, it is also called Holmberg VIII, one of nine galaxies in the Holmberg catalog detected by Erik Holmberg at the Lund Observatory in Sweden in 1950.

This galaxy is believed to be a satellite of the much larger NGC 5033 galaxy, which is outside of the field of view. I like the odd shape and structure of this galaxy, as well as the contrast of the pinkish star formation areas with the two bright bluish star cluster areas.

In the upper left of the image is galaxy UGC 8314, which is also considered to be a satellite galaxy of NGC 5033. On the right side of the image, looking like a small orange star cluster, is the galaxy group SHK 248. This group has 9 members and is at an average distance of 3 billion light-years.

Looking carefully at the background of the image, you will see many tiny orange-tinted galaxies, some clustered, some not. I have no way of knowing for sure that these are galaxies, but it sure looks like it to me.

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