This seldom imaged object is a barlense lenticular galaxy located 40 million light years away in the constellation of Virgo at a declination of +2 degrees. It is a magnitude 11 galaxy which spans 4 arc-minutes in our apparent view. This corresponds to a diameter of 50,000 light years.
From our view perspective, the disk is inclined about halfway between face-on and edge-on.
This is a classic barlense galaxy. A barlense is a distinctive shape of a bright oval lens superimposed on a long, narrow, bright bar of similar brightness. The oval lens is typically about 1/2 the length of the bar. A bright core is always present and is typically about 1/4 the length of the oval lens. In comparison to a normal bar, the bar of a barlense is much brighter. My collection of barlense galaxies is seen
here.
A pair of ansae are usually seen at each end of a barlense, and in this object the ansae are particularly interesting because they are part of a faint inner ring that completely encircles the barlense.
To many people, this type of galaxy is more recognizable as a "TIE fighter galaxy" from the Star Wars universe than as a barlense galaxy. My poster of TIE fighter galaxies is seen
here.
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