Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Triangulum (Tri)  ·  Contains:  NGC 969  ·  NGC 970  ·  NGC 971  ·  NGC 974  ·  NGC 978
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NGC 969, 970, 971, 974, 978, Gary Imm
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NGC 969, 970, 971, 974, 978

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NGC 969, 970, 971, 974, 978, Gary Imm
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NGC 969, 970, 971, 974, 978

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Description

This image captures a pair of galaxy trios located in the constellation of Triangulum at a declination of +33 degrees. 4 of the galaxies described below are identified in the mouseover. All 6 of these galaxy structures are intriguing, including 3 of which are close galaxy pairs.

The nearby trio, at 200 million light years away, is led by NGC 974 in the center of the image. This is a face-on ringed spiral galaxy with a magnitude of 13.9. It spans 3.5 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a huge diameter of 200,000 light years. The core and bright inner section of NGC 973 look like a grand spiral galaxy with 2 strong arms, but those arms quickly transition to a ring around the central section. Although the bright inner section is circular, suggesting that we are looking at it face-on, the ring is in the shape of a prolate spheroid (American football). The best part of NGC 974 is the extended arms, so faded and delicate that they resemble star streams more than arms.

The other two members of the nearby trio are the bright barred spiral just to the right (NGC 969) and the bright close pair of galaxies below and left (NGC 978). These three galaxies are likely close enough to be causing disturbance with each other.

The far galaxy trio is at a distance of about twice as far away (and half the apparent size), at a distance of 430 million light years. The trio includes the close pair of spiral galaxies above and right of image center, the close pair of elliptical galaxies (2MASX J02333881+3300557) a bit further up and right, and a barred ring spiral galaxy (2MASX J02332722+3306171) even further up and right.

I don’t know of another small field of view in the sky which has so many unusual small galaxies.

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