Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Lepus (Lep)  ·  Contains:  IC 2132  ·  NGC 1954  ·  NGC 1957
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NGC 1954 Galaxy Trio, Gary Imm
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NGC 1954 Galaxy Trio

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NGC 1954 Galaxy Trio, Gary Imm
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NGC 1954 Galaxy Trio

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Description

This object is a rarely imaged triple galaxy system located 140 million light years away in the constellation of Lepus at a declination of -14 degrees. From top to bottom, the 3 galaxies are the red edge-on spiral galaxy IC 2132, the big blue face-on spiral galaxy NGC 1954, and the orange lenticular galaxy NGC 1957. All 3 galaxies are about the same distance away.

My favorite part of this image is the structure of NGC 1954. This galaxy spans 3 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a diameter of 130,000 light years. The galaxy has several interesting concentric oval rings throughout the disk, with the brightest being an outer rim of blue star clusters. I assume that this unique structure was created by the gravitational disturbance with the other galaxies. I like the faint star stream which connects NGC 1954 to the lenticular galaxy below it.

This is the first image of this triple galaxy system on Astrobin.

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