Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Leo (Leo)  ·  Contains:  HD101485  ·  NGC 3790  ·  NGC 3801  ·  NGC 3802  ·  NGC 3803  ·  NGC 3806
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NGC 3801 Galaxy Group, Gary Imm
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NGC 3801 Galaxy Group

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 3801 Galaxy Group, Gary Imm
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NGC 3801 Galaxy Group

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Description

These Astrobin Debut Objects are highlighted by NGC 3801, a disturbed spiral galaxy located 160 million light years away in the constellation of Leo at a declination of +18 degrees.  It is a magnitude 13 galaxy which shows fantastic evidence of disturbance in its dust lanes and star streams.  

The main disk is Milky Way size, which spanning 2 arc-minutes in our apparent view which corresponds to a diameter of 110,000 light years.  The extended star stream of the disk extends out to twice that diameter.

Scientists believe that in NGC 3801 we are looking at the result of a collision between 2 spiral galaxies, as described here.  The crossing dust lanes and the looping star streams all point to a merger as a cause.

The other galaxies in the frame are all interesting and are at about the same distance away as NGC 3801, although I don't see much interaction.

It is rare that, in a FOV of 1/3 of a degree, the frame includes a galaxy merger, 2 face-on barred spiral galaxies and 4 edge-on spiral galaxies.

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NGC 3801 Galaxy Group, Gary Imm

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