Arp 55 (2019) (Gary Imm)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Lynx (Lyn)

Arp 55 (2019)

This tiny Arp object, also known as UGC 4881, consists of two merging galaxies located over 500 million light years away in the constellation of Lynx. This object is much bigger than our Milky Way, with a span of over 150,000 light years.

I have wanted to image this fascinating object ever since I first saw it described in Sky and Telescope magazine almost 2 years ago. But its tiny size (40 arc-seconds) kept me from imaging it, since my focal length is not long enough to get enough detail on an object that small. But I finally caved in and imaged it anyway.

This object was first given the nickname, "The Grasshopper", by the esteemed astrophysicist Dr. Boris Vorontsov-Velyaminov in a 1977 paper. Despite all of the time I have I spent with this object recently, I still don't think it looks like a grasshopper. At least, not like the ones we have where I live. It looks more like a shrimp to me.

The two galaxy cores are seen as the two brightest yellowish regions in the object. The cores of each merging galaxy are separated and distinct, but the disks of the galaxies have started to merge. Intense star formation is occurring, as seen by the bright blue line of clusters along the grasshopper's "tail". Three other faint galaxies are visible near the Grasshopper in this image and form a group with it.

I have attached an image comparison of this object, adding the Arp and Hubble images side by side with my version.

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Original
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Description: Comparison to Original Arp & Hubble Images

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The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	2584618
PixInsight job	3GQ6G0DYP2V9M7EB8GA6JUB4J70JNNQ8
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	09h15m55s.634
RA (top/left)	09h16m34s.678
RA (top/right)	09h15m16s.276
RA (bottom/right)	09h15m16s.686
RA (bottom/left)	09h16m34s.909

Dec (center)	+44°20′02″.10
Dec (top/left)	+44°24′18″.16
Dec (top/right)	+44°24′12″.42
Dec (bottom/right)	+44°15′45″.13
Dec (bottom/left)	+44°15′51″.30

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Arp 55 (2019)

Arp 55 (2019)

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Arp 55 (2019)

Arp 55 (2019)

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