This
Astrobin Debut Object is a galaxy group of 5 galaxies, called Hickson 67, located 340 million light years away in the constellation of Virgo at a declination of -7 degrees.
This is a true cluster - the 5 galaxies are all about the same distance from us.
The largest and brightest object, Hickson 67a, is also known as NGC 5306. Even though Hickson (and NGC) designated this as one object, it certainly appears to be a close pair of galaxies to me. This magnitude 12.5 galaxy spans 1 arc-minute, which corresponds to a Milky Way size diameter of 120,000 light years.
Hickson 67b is another interesting galaxy – one of my favorite types, an edge-on spiral with a nice dark dust lane bisecting the disk. It is almost exactly edge-on, with the core just peaking out from under the dust lane.
The Hickson catalog is a collection of 100 galaxy groups, established by Paul Hickson in 1982. Hickson compact galaxy groups are strictly defined by 3 criteria: number of galaxies, total magnitude, and isolation from other galaxies. A typical Hickson group has 4 galaxies, but some have up to 8. You can see more about Hickson galaxy groups in my
Astrobin Hickson Collection.
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