This
Astrobin Debut Object is a galaxy group of 4 small galaxies, called Hickson 48, located in the constellation of Hydra at a declination of -27 degrees.
This is not a true cluster - the 4 galaxies are all at different distances from 100 to 200 million light years away and are only aligned through superposition from our apparent view.
The largest and brightest galaxy, Hickson 48a, is located 140 million light years away and is also known as IC 2597. It is a magnitude 12 elliptical that spans 2 arc-minutes, which corresponds to a diameter of 75,000 light years.
Both spiral galaxies 48b and 48c have interesting structures. 48b has a bluish strong arm extending down out of the core, while 48c has a mid-region ring.
The Hickson catalog is a collection of 100 galaxy groups, established by Paul Hickson in 1982. Hickson compact galaxy groups are strictly defined by 3 criteria: number of galaxies, total magnitude, and isolation from other galaxies. You can see more about Hickson galaxy groups in my
Astrobin Hickson Collection.
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