This
Astrobin Debut Object, also known as NGC 7757, is a disturbed barred spiral galaxy located 140 million light years away in the constellation of Pisces at a declination of +4 degrees. This magnitude 13 galaxy spans 1.7 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a diameter of 70,000 light years. It appears to us about 30 degrees from face-on.
Some sources, such as SIMBAD, indicate that this object is also known as NGC 7756, but the correct view seems to be that NGC 7756 is simply missing (a not uncommon error in NGC).
I love the structure of this galaxy. 4 arms are clearly defined and they all seem slightly askew. They contain
Vorontsov-Velyaminov rows within each of them. The top row in particular is fascinating, with a long straight section and many star clusters. Something has disturbed this galaxy, but what?
In his
Arp catalog, Dr. Arp classified this object into the category of Spiral Galaxies with Small, High Surface Brightness Companions on Arms. But the “companion” does not look like a companion to me. This small galaxy (USNO-A2.0 0900-20497356 ) looks like a distant spiral. There is no distance information available for this object. If it were at the same distance as NGC 7757, it would be only 15,000 light years in diameter which is too small in my experience for such as a defined spiral.
A more likely disturbance candidate is the small dwarf-like galaxy (HDL96-407 17) below NGC 7757, on the opposite side of the most disturbed arm of NGC 7757. But no distance information is available for it either, so this cannot be confirmed.
It is possible that the disturbance candidate has been absorbed into the galaxy as one of the bright spots in a disturbed arm.
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