The largest galaxy in this image is NGC 4725, and it has quite a few distinctive characteristics that render it an object of interest. To begin, its prominent bar is surrounded by a ring structure, in which copious star formation is occurring. Sprouting from the ring is a single spiral arm that wraps completely around the galaxy. NGC 4725 is a Seyfert galaxy, with an active nucleus powered by a supermassive black hole. Located about 41 million light-years away, NGC 4725 is a member of the Coma I Galaxy Group, which itself is a member of the Coma-Sculptor Cloud.

Also a member of the Coma I Group is NGC 4747, the highly distorted spiral galaxy located toward the upper left of the image. This galaxy's peculiar shape has been caused by its interaction with NGC 4725. One might suspect that NGC 4712, the nice, symmetrical spiral to NGC 4725's right in the image, is also part of the Coma I Group, but its apparent proximity to the other two large galaxies in the image is an optical illusion. NGC 4712 lies, in fact, more than 200 million light years away.

Scattered around the image are tiny galaxies that lie even further in the cosmic background. I'll point out a few examples. Immediately below NGC 4725 is a round, reddish, faint fuzzy with a bright red core. This is quasar LEDA 1735228, which lies about 1.25 billion light years away. The small, bluish spiral toward the upper right of the image is PGC 86434, which lies a modest 73 million light years away. If you start from this galaxy and move directly to the left, you will encounter what appears to be a rather bright, reddish star. This is, in fact, quasar SDSS J125024.13+254608.6, which lies an impressive 10.8 billion light years away. Finally, take a look at the distorted spiral arm to the left of NGC 4747's core. Embedded in it is what appears to be a dim, bluish star. This is, in fact, quasar SDSS J125157.88+254928.3, which has a lookback of about 11 billion years.