Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  NGC 4085  ·  NGC 4088
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Arp 18, Gary Imm
Arp 18, Gary Imm

Arp 18

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Arp 18, Gary Imm
Arp 18, Gary Imm

Arp 18

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Description

Many areas of the sky are rich in galaxies but this field of view is especially striking and unique to me, where a couple of wonderful foreground galaxies capture your initial attention but then you find yourself drawn to the detail of a multitude of galaxy clusters in the background. Viewing the Astrobin full resolution image is necessary to clearly see the details described below.

The main object in the center is a beautiful grand design spiral galaxy, NGC 4088, located 50 million light years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. This galaxy is an Arp object, Arp 18, due to the detached arm segment at the bottom of the galaxy. Although the apparent diameter is rather small (about 5 minute diameter), plenty of star clusters and Ha regions are visible. It has an estimated diameter of 60,000 light years and is at an edge-on inclination of 70 degrees.

Sharing the image with this galaxy is the companion spiral galaxy NGC 4085. It is not clear to me whether these 2 galaxies are interacting.

The most interesting aspect of this image to me are the hundreds of background galaxies, which I did not know about until seeing the final image. The number and variety of these tiny galaxies, found throughout the entire background of the image, is amazing. My favorite is the cluster of 30 or so found in the upper right portion of the image, highlighted by a larger edge-on spiral (MCG+08-22-063).

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    Arp 18, Gary Imm
    Original
  • Arp 18, Gary Imm
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Description: Comparison to Original Arp Image

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Arp 18, Gary Imm

In these collections

Arp Catalog (Complete)