This
Astrobin Debut Object is a galaxy group of 4 spiral galaxies, called Hickson 89, located 400 million light years away in the constellation of Aquarius at a declination of -4 degrees. Unlike most Hickson objects, this is a true galaxy cluster and all of them are the same distance away.
The largest and brightest galaxy, Hickson 89a, is a magnitude 14.1 spiral barred face-on spiral. It spans 1 arc-minute, which corresponds to a Milky Way like diameter of 120,000 light years. Both 89a and 89b have nice spiral arm structures.
This Hickson group is one of only 14 (out of the Hickson 100) groups where all of the galaxies in the group are spiral galaxies.
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.
Comments