This
Astrobin Debut Object is a trio of magnitude 15 galaxies located 430 million light years away in the constellation of Leo at a declination of +26 degrees. In his
Arp catalog, Dr. Arp classified this object into the category of Elliptical and Elliptical-Like Galaxies Close to and Perturbing Spirals.
The top galaxy is MCG+05-28-021, a lenticular galaxy. This magnitude 15 galaxy spans 40 arc-seconds in our apparent view, which corresponds to a diameter of 80,000 light years.
Immediately below is galaxy SDSS J114302.39+261624.9. I thought this was a star at first, but close examination reveals it to be non-stellar. This appears to be an unusually bright lenticular or elliptical galaxy. Because of its small diameter of only 30,000 light years, I am guessing that it is a lenticular galaxy. Neither of this pair of lenticulars seem disturbed, so perhaps they are not as close as they appear in the image.
The bottom galaxy, with the most interesting structure, is UGC 6678. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is 100,000 light years in diameter. This galaxy is disturbed – in fact, the top half seems to have been obliterated by one (or both) of the 2 galaxies above. I love the half ring around the bottom, along with the numerous bright star regions.
Finally, the interesting barred spiral at the upper right corner of the image is 2MASX J11424505+2620329. It is at the same distance away as the other 3, making it a quartet.
Comments