This
Astrobin Debut Object, also known as IC 1520, is a small face-on spiral galaxy located 420 million light years away in the constellation of Cetus at a declination of -14 degrees. This galaxy spans 30 arc-seconds in our apparent view, which corresponds to a diameter of 70,000 light years.
In his
Arp catalog, Dr. Arp classified this object into the category of Spiral Galaxies with Low Surface Brightness Companions on Arms.
To be honest, I don’t see a companion here. I see a disturbed grand design spiral galaxy with one longer arm. The left side of the outer disk is occluded, while the right side shows a void area between the two arms. Interesting, but not really peculiar enough to make the Arp catalog in my opinion.
I am surprised at how many truly peculiar objects were left out of the catalog while others, like this one, were included. Still, it doesn't diminish the fact that Dr. Arp did a historic piece of work through his catalog.
The background in this part of the sky has an eerie absence of stars.
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