This
Astrobin Debut Object is a galaxy group of 4 galaxies, called Hickson 9, located in the constellation of Cetus at a declination of -24 degrees. Like many Hickson objects, this is not a true related galaxy group.
The largest and brightest galaxy, Hickson 9a, is also known as LEDA 3201. It is an odd orange edge-on galaxy with a dust lane and a large halo. It is located 1 billion light years away and spans 30 arc-seconds, which corresponds to a large diameter of 160,000 light years.
The other 3 galaxies, Hickson 9b, c, and d, are all at different, slightly closer distances ranging from 400 to 800 million light years away. Obviously they are too far apart from each other to be interacting.
The 2 edge-on spirals at upper left are IC 1599 and LEDA 133684. The most interesting object in the image is IC 1600, at the far left edge.
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The Hickson catalog is a collection of 100 galaxy groups, established by Paul Hickson in 1982. Hickson compact galaxy groups are tightly spaced and somewhat isolated from other galaxies. A typical Hickson group has 4 galaxies, but some have up to 8. You can see more about Hickson galaxy groups in my
Astrobin Hickson Collection.
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