Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Cetus (Cet)
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Hickson 14, Gary Imm
Hickson 14, Gary Imm

Hickson 14

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Hickson 14, Gary Imm
Hickson 14, Gary Imm

Hickson 14

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

This Astrobin Debut Object is a galaxy group of 4 galaxies, called Hickson 14, located in the constellation of Cetus at a declination of -7 degrees. This is not a true cluster.  The 4 galaxies are all at different distances and are only aligned through superposition from our apparent view.  At first glance I thought that 14a and 14b had a tidal bridge between them, but that is not supported by the data or the fact that neither galaxy is disturbed.

If the nickname “The Cosmic Question Mark” wasn’t already taken, Hickson 14 would be a good object for it!

The largest and brightest galaxy, Hickson 14a, is an elliptical galaxy located 230 million lightyears away.  It is a magnitude 14.2 galaxy that spans 1.7 arc-minutes, which corresponds to a Milky Way size diameter of 120,000 light years.  

The prettiest galaxy is the near edge-on spiral 14b, which is 20 million light years further away.  Galaxy 14d is the furthest away at 400 million light years.

Comments