Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Draco (Dra)
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Hickson 85, Gary Imm
Hickson 85, Gary Imm

Hickson 85

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Hickson 85, Gary Imm
Hickson 85, Gary Imm

Hickson 85

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Description

This is a galaxy group of 4 tiny galaxies, called Hickson 85, located 0.5 billion light years away in the constellation of Draco at a declination of +73 degrees.  Unlike many Hickson objects, this is a true galaxy cluster and all of them are about at the same distance away.  I don’t see much disturbance in these objects, so I don’t think they are quite close enough to each other for tidal interactions.  

The largest and brightest galaxy, Hickson 85a, is a magnitude 15 elliptical galaxy.  It spans 1 arc-minute, which corresponds to a diameter of 140,000 light years.  This Hickson group is one of only 23 (out of the Hickson 100) groups that does not include a single spiral galaxy.

The Hickson catalog is a collection of 100 galaxy groups, established by Paul Hickson in 1982. Hickson compact galaxy groups are tightly spaced and somewhat isolated 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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