This
Astrobin Debut Object is a galaxy group of 4 galaxies, called Hickson 32, located in the constellation of Lepus at a declination of -15 degrees. This appears to be a true galaxy cluster, with all of them about 0.5 billion light years away. I do not see much deformation, so I don't believe they are close enough together to be interacting with each other.
The largest and brightest galaxy, Hickson 32a, is a magnitude 13.8 elliptical. It spans 1.2 arc-minutes, which corresponds to a large diameter of 160,000 light years.
Hickson 32b is a Milky Way size spiral, while the other 2 (32c and 32d) are lenticular galaxies.
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The Hickson catalog is a collection of 100 galaxy groups, established by Paul Hickson in 1982. Hickson compact galaxy groups are tightly spaced and somewhat isolated from other galaxies. A typical Hickson group has 4 galaxies, but some have up to 8. You can see more about Hickson galaxy groups in my
Astrobin Hickson Collection.
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