This unrelated but beautiful pair of spiral galaxies is located in the constellation of Leo at a declination of +18 degrees.
NGC 3501 is the edge-on spiral galaxy at lower right, located 74 million light years away. It spans 5 arc-minutes in our apparent view. This corresponds to a diameter of 100,000 light years. We appear to be peaking just over the plane of the galaxy, with the yellow core appearing just above the central dust lane. I like the mottled dust lanes throughout the cross-section. The galaxy is classified as superthin and does not have a bulge The disk does not appear warped to me. The faint galaxies nearby are much further away.
NGC 3507 is the grand spiral design barred galaxy at upper left, located 50 million light years away. It spans 3 arc-minutes in our apparent view. This corresponds to a diameter of 45,000 light years. The galaxy is about 30 degrees from face-on to our view. A bright blue Milky Way star is superimposed just left of the yellow core. The arms extend out from each end of the bar, spiraling for a full 360 degrees. Numerous bright star clouds are seen amongst the clearly defined but kinked
VV row arms.
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