Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)
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UGC 5055, Gary Imm
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UGC 5055

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UGC 5055, Gary Imm
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UGC 5055

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Description

This object is a face-on spiral galaxy located 360 million light years away in the constellation of Ursa Major at a declination of +56 degrees. This galaxy spans 1.5 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to an actual diameter of 150,000 light years. The galaxy is very small and is tightly cropped in this image to exclude two bright stars, one on each side of it.

I love the look of ring galaxies. Ring galaxies are generally thought to be formed from galaxy collisions or close interactions. This galaxy is not a ring galaxy in the classic sense, in that the central bar is strongly connected to the tightly wound arms. The "ring" may look more dramatic here because the galaxy is so far away that its dimmer diffuse outer disk regions cannot be seen. I like the number of bright star clusters in the "ring", as well as the dark void in the space around the barred core.

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