Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Leo (Leo)  ·  Contains:  NGC 3226  ·  NGC 3227
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Arp 94, Gary Imm
Arp 94, Gary Imm

Arp 94

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Arp 94, Gary Imm
Arp 94, Gary Imm

Arp 94

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Description

This 4 arc-minute wide object consists of two interacting galaxies located 50 million light years away in the constellation of Leo at a declination of +20 degrees.  The galaxy at right is a large spiral galaxy (NGC 3227), almost 100,000 light years in diameter, and the other is a smaller elliptical galaxy (NGC 3226).

A series of dark dust lanes is seen in the upper half of the larger galaxy. Faint tidal star streams extend in arcs and loops around the galaxies due to their gravitational encounter.

As we have learned in M51, two objects that appear to be interacting could actually just be superimposed.  In this case, I think there is both involved.  It appears that the left galaxy is in front of the right one.  Based on the relatively undisturbed nature of both galaxies, I don't think that the interaction here is significant, at least not yet.

A wider FOV image of this object is seen here.

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