Images from the following two scopes (piggybacked) contributed to this image:

AG12+ASI1600MM at .70 asec/pix (RGB)

TV127is+ASI183MM at .75 asec/pix. (L)

They were all registered to the best R image taken on the AG12.

Using L from the TV NP127is refractor effectively eliminates the spikes from the AG12.

Hoag's Object is a very faint, magnitude 16, ring galaxy, a very rare type of galaxy. It is quite small visually, measuring .28 arcminute in diameter.

A few galaxies share the primary characteristics of Hoag's Object, including a bright detached ring of stars, but their centers are elongated or barred, and they may exhibit some spiral structure. Hoag's Object with its perfectly symmetric central core is quite rare.

Is this one galaxy or two? This question came to light in 1950 when astronomer Art Hoag chanced upon this unusual extragalactic object. On the outside is a ring dominated by bright blue stars, while near the center lies a ball of much redder stars that are likely much older. Between the two is a gap that appears almost completely dark. How Hoag's Object formed remains unknown, although similar objects have now been identified and collectively labeled as a form of ring galaxy. Genesis hypotheses include a galaxy collision billions of years ago and the gravitational effect of a central bar that has since vanished. The Hubble image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in July 2001 revealed unprecedented details of Hoag's Object. More recent observations in radio waves indicate that Hoag's Object has not accreted a smaller galaxy in the past billion years. Hoag's Object spans about 100,000 light years and lies about 600 million light years away toward the constellation of the Snake (Serpens). Coincidentally, visible in the gap (in the Hubble version, at about one o'clock) is yet another ring galaxy that likely lies far in the distance.

(apod.nasa.gov)