This obscure
Astrobin Debut Object is located 0.5 billion light years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices at a declination of +27 degrees. In his
Arp catalog, Dr. Arp classified this object into the odd category of Material Emanating from Elliptical Galaxies.
This is a small but fascinating object which spans 1 arc-minute, corresponding to a Milky Way like width of 120,000 light years. My best guess is that we are looking at 3 galaxies in this object – a foreground yellow undisturbed elliptical (2MASX J13072837+2643319) on the left side, and a background pair of interacting galaxies on the right side. This right pair consists of an orange spiral (MCG+05-31-135) with a long star stream tail to the right, and a blue dwarf galaxy to its left (SDSS J130727.94+264323.3). This is another example where color really adds to the interpretation of an object.
I expanded the image framing to include the galaxy on the left edge, which to me is just as intriguing as the Arp object. This galaxy (MCG+05-31-136) has a yellow core and numerous blue arm extensions. I love how the 2 bright grand design spiral arms contrast with the 3 additional fainter, longer arms of various lengths. It is about the same distance away as Arp 139 and is 90,000 light years in diameter.
Note that the bright blue star in the mouseover comparison has moved down slightly over the past 55 years.
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