Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Cetus (Cet)  ·  Contains:  NGC 1143  ·  NGC 1144
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Arp 118, Gary Imm
Arp 118, Gary Imm

Arp 118

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Arp 118, Gary Imm
Arp 118, Gary Imm

Arp 118

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Description

This Astrobin Debut Object is a pair of interacting galaxies located 400 million light years away in the constellation of Cetus at a declination of 0 degrees. The magnitude 13.2 yellow elliptical galaxy on the right is NGC 1143, while the magnitude 12.9 disturbed spiral galaxy on the left is NGC 1144. Each galaxy is similar in size, spanning 0.7 arc-minutes in our apparent view with a diameter of 80,000 light years.

This galaxy was classified by Dr. Arp into the category of Elliptical Galaxies that are Close to and Perturbing Spirals.

This is one of my favorite Arp objects, particularly the wonderful double ring of blue star clusters around the core of the left galaxy. One ring is horizontal and the other ring is inclined at about the same angle as the galaxy disk. This blue lumpy star cluster pattern is very similar to what is seen in Arp 244, The Antennae Galaxies. It seems likely that interaction of the spiral with the elliptical kicked off the star initiation seen in these blue clusters.

The distant spiral galaxy up and to the right is 2MASX J02550661-0009448, about 0.5 billion light years away with a diameter of 65,000 light years. It has a slightly warped disk.

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