This image captures a pair of amazing Arp objects, Arp 296 and Arp 299. Each Arp object is a pair of interacting galaxies located in the constellation of Ursa Major at a declination of +59 degrees. These are the two Arp objects in closest visual proximity to each other in the entire Arp catalog, although in actual distance they are quite far apart.

Arp 299, also known as NGC 3690, is to the right, at a distance of 140 million light years from us. This lovely mess is about 1.5 arc-minutes in diameter, which corresponds to an actual size of 60,000 light years. The two bright blobs appear to be disk remnants. Each blob has a bright area which could be its former galaxy core. This object looks a bit like the Antennae Galaxies, but without their long star stream tails. The small elliptical galaxy slightly above is IC 694, which is located far beyond Arp 299 and is not interacting with it.

The incredible object on the left is Arp 296, a pair of galaxies connected by a long thin star stream. The upper galaxy is MCG+10-17-005 and the lower galaxy is LEDA 2580146. The star stream is thin and strong as it extends up from the lower galaxy, and then widens and dims as it approaches the upper galaxy. The star stream also extends below the lower galaxy as well. The lower galaxy is about 800 million light years away and is 60,000 light years in diameter. I could not find distance information for the upper galaxy, but assuming it is also 800 million light years away, its diameter is 140,000 light years.

The common belief is that these two Arp 296 galaxies are the same distance away and are interacting, creating the star stream. It troubles me that neither galaxy appears disturbed as a result. It also troubles me that the 2 galaxies are 500,000 light years apart, which is an unusually large distance for interaction. However, the 2 galaxies (one face-on and the other edge-on) are oriented perpendicular to each other, which I believe is an orientation that leads to a large gravitational star stream impact, so perhaps it is possible.