This
Astrobin Debut Object is a spiral galaxy with 2 companions located almost a half billion light years away in the constellation of Bootes at a declination of +19 degrees. In his
Arp catalog, Dr. Arp classified this object into the category of Spiral Galaxies with Small, High Surface Brightness Companions on Arms.
The spiral galaxy at the center of the image is UGC 9503. This magnitude 15 galaxy spans about 30 arc-seconds in our apparent view, which corresponds to a diameter of 75,000 light years. This galaxy has 2 strong arms, with a blue star cluster region halfway up along the left arm.
Star streams extend both left and right from the spiral. The stream to the left bends back and upward, to the spiral galaxy LEDA 214322. Data shows this galaxy to be at the same distance as UGC 9503. It has a diameter of 50,000 light years.
The small blue dwarf companion to the right is galaxy VV471b. Not much is know about this object and whether it is a companion, a star region, or a more distant object, but the star stream connection is a strong indication to me that it is a small companion. If it is at the same distance away, it would be 15,000 light years across.
Many other background galaxies are visible in the image. I find the area of the image to the lower right to be just as interesting to examine as Arp 64.
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