This object is a group of anywhere from 3 to 5 interacting galaxies located in the constellation of Canes Venatici at a declination of +34 degrees. In his
Arp catalog, Dr. Arp classified this object into the category of Elliptical Galaxies Repelling Spiral Arms.
The top galaxy is the spiral galaxy NVSS J140141+334937. It is about 360 million light years away and spans 1 arc-minute in our apparent view, which corresponds to a diameter of 100,000 light years. It is a grand spiral galaxy with 2 strong arms. Both arms have something fascinating going on. The top arm, which is almost perfectly straight, has a bright blue region smack dab in the middle of it. I am guessing that this blue region is a star cluster, but it could be a dwarf galaxy companion or simply a superimposed closer galaxy. The bottom arm extends twice as far as the top arm, with an extended star stream that has a rare reverse curvature.
Immediately below the spiral galaxy is the elliptical galaxy UGC 8941S. It is the same distance away as the spiral galaxy and is likely interacting with it to cause the deformations described above. The spiral and elliptical galaxies together are also known as NGC 5421.
Below NGC 5421 is the faint blue galaxy (or pair of galaxies?) known as MCG+06-31-046. No distance information is available for this object. It appears to be a bit disturbed so it is possible that all of the galaxies at the center of this image are interacting, although I feel that is unlikely.
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