This object is a chain of 9 galaxies located from 350 to 450 million light years away in the constellation of Draco at a declination of +53 degrees. This chain is one of the most unusual DSO objects I have seen. It appears in the image as a vertical zig-zag of 9 galaxies down the center. The Astrobin mouse-over shows 7 PGC galaxies in the chain. The 8th and 9th galaxies, a pair at the bottom of the chain, are not identified by the mouse-over.
The central galaxy is the brightest (mag 15.6) and also the largest in our apparent view, at 1 arc-minute in diameter. This corresponds to an actual diameter of 140,000 light years.
It is impossible for me to tell if the galaxies are interacting. The odd bluish c-shaped galaxy appears disturbed, but it lies out of the gravitation range of most of the galaxies in the chain. It is quite a coincidence that these galaxies line up almost in a straight line. Arp logically put this object into the Arp category of “chain of galaxies”. This object is somewhat reminiscent of the 5 galaxy chain object
Arp 329, which I imaged last month.
Many other galaxies are visible in the background. The prettiest of these is the barred ring galaxy in the upper left corner (2MASX J16501529+5333072).
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