Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Camelopardalis (Cam)  ·  Contains:  PGC 46296  ·  PGC 46314  ·  PGC 46460  ·  PGC 46729  ·  PGC 46811
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Arp 204, Gary Imm
Arp 204, Gary Imm

Arp 204

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Arp 204, Gary Imm
Arp 204, Gary Imm

Arp 204

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Description

This object is a trio of interacting galaxies located 300 million light years away in the constellation of Camelopardalis at a declination of +85 degrees. It spans just over 2 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to an actual width of 200,000 light years. Only a few DSOs are further north than this one.

Some sources say that this object is 2 galaxies, but it sure seems like 3 galaxies to me. All 3 galaxies look disturbed and are likely interacting. The left galaxy, PGC 46811, is an edge-on spiral with looping star streams. This galaxy is connected by a star stream bridge to PGC 46729, which seems to me to be 2 galaxies despite the single designation. The left of the pair looks like a polar ring galaxy, while the right blob is hard to discern. This pair looks very much to me like Arp 175.

To the right is another pair of spiral galaxies, PGC 46314 and PGC 46296. They do not appear to be disturbed, but I do see a faint plume that connects them so they may be interacting. I could not find distance information on these 2 objects.

In the bottom right corner, a galaxy cluster is seen with a large spiral galaxy, PGC 46460, 210 million light years away. This galaxy visually seems to look further away than Arp 204 but is actually significantly closer to us.

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