This
Astrobin Debut Object, also known as Hickson 18, is in the constellation of Aries at a declination of +18 degrees. In his
Arp catalog, Dr. Arp classified this object into the category of Galaxies with Irregular Clumps.
This is an interesting object. The yellow spiral is LEDA 10046, located about 0.5 billion light years away. It spans 1 arc-minute in our apparent view, which corresponds to a Milky Way size diameter of 120,000 light years.
The blue irregular galaxy is UGC 2140, much closer to us at 190 million light years. It has a number of fascinating bright blue star clouds and is about 80,000 light years in diameter.
As shown in the mouseover, these 2 objects are identified as Hickson 18, implying that they are 4 related galaxies. It certainly does not appear that way to me. As stated above, it looks like these are 2 galaxies at different distances, although I think it is possible that the irregular galaxy itself is comprised of 2 overlapping small galaxies based on the variations of blue color seen in the image.
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