Arp’s Peculiar Galaxies
Page 14 of 18
Arp observations 131-140 of 171 total to date.
| Thumbnail | Title/link | Arp Category | Date Observed | Observer Description |
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Arp 268 / Holmberg II / UGC 4305 | Galaxies with irregular clumps | 2024-03-26 00:01:45 | This appears to be an irregular dwarf galaxy with low surface brightness, and a series of small structures above the surface. They remind me of structures I've seen in other contexts, similar to NGC 604 outside of the Triangulum Galaxy, or even M42 within our own galaxy. Certainly they could be star birthing regions. Considering this was a full moon, I was pleased with this capture in SharpCap. |
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Arp 269 / Cocoon Galaxy Revisit | Galaxies with connected arms | 2026-02-27 00:18:00 | A careful observation using the monochrome Apollo-M mini late in the evening with the Cocoon high, and transparency improving. Recaptured a set of darks, focused in place. Pleased with the result. |
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Arp 270 / NGC 3395-6 | Galaxies with connected arms | 2024-05-31 22:54:00 | Two strongly interacting galaxies, both spiral originally and now significantly distorted by the interaction. There is a tiny and very faint galaxy, IC 2605 which appears to extend the right arm of NGC 3395, the upper galaxy in our image. It's not at all obvious, but showed up in the Astrometry annotation. It has a higher redshift than the two larger galaxies, and is apparently far in the background. Arp famously argued that galaxies with different red shifts could interact, but this apparently is not one of those examples. |
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Arp 271 / NGC 5426 / NGC 5427 | Galaxies with connected arms | 2024-05-13 01:55:00 | Captured at the end of a long evening. I'd been focused on Messier objects due to so-so transparency, but decided it had cleared up enough at 1:30 AM. Wonderful, relatively bright observation showing two spiral galaxies heavily interacting. Whether it's a future merger or a near miss is beyond my expertise, but the exchange is clearly visible. Arp remarked: "Arms linked. Note bifurcation in arm of N spiral." I believe Arp is describing the bottom arm of NGC 5427 which is rooted in another arm rather than in the nucleus. There is actually faint glow at the point of intersection. I'm tempted to speculate but won't. |
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Arp 272 / NGC 6050 / IC 1179 | Galaxies with connected arms | 2025-06-30 01:09:00 | Arp placed this in the "Double Galaxies - Connected Arms" category. His observing notes added: "Arms join at dense knot or nucleus...." My interpretation from the beginning was that we were really looking at 3 galaxies: NGC 6050 (lower left), IC 1179 (upper right) and a third, smaller galaxy at the end of NGC 6050's arm (upper left). Arp's comment suggests he saw the nucleus but wasn't willing to suggest it's a 3rd galaxy. My research discovered the Hubble image you can find in the gallery which confirms it is a third galaxy. |
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Arp 273 / UGC 1810 / UGC 1813 | Galaxies with connected arms | 2024-11-05 20:51:00 | This is a very mysterious duo of galaxies. The smaller, to the left, appears like a ribbon because it has been largely stripped of its envelope of stars. The larger, right, is a weirdly distorted, barred spiral, in 3/4 view. To be clear, the bright object in the center is actually a star, not the galactic nucleus. The actual nucleus is just above it, and therefore asymmetrically located within the spiral. The top arm has been pulled left. The bottom half of the spiral is partially stripped and what remains is heavily knotted: this is less obvious in my capture, but very clear in Arp's. I see that some sources explain the mystery by the smaller galaxy having actually passed through the larger. This is certainly consistent with what i can see, particularly in Arp's capture, which I "printed" as a positive image because I felt it showed the chaos better. |
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Arp 275 / NGC 2881 | Interacting galaxies | 2026-03-10 21:55:00 | Arp left no observing remarks for Arp 275, so his only commentary is the category. "Interacting galaxies" is non-committal. Most modern commentators suggest this is two spiral galaxies "colliding". Seems plausible, though Arp abhorred the idea, deriding it as "merger mania". He preferred "fission" or ejection, though neither seems as plausible as "collision". I've added the Hubble image of the pair where you can see a well developed spiral structure on both ends, presumably formed in a circle, and now being squared off in the collission like two Parker dinner rolls. |
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Arp 276 / NGC 935 and IC 1801 | Spiral galaxies with elliptical companions on arms | 2025-11-22 19:34:00 | This target was captured on a dark night, with only so-so seeing. This is a classic Arp object, relatively large and bright by comparison to many. Arp's comment is simply: "Both intersecting edges seem dimmed. " which is true enough but leaves me wondering why it matters. This seems another example where Arp's fetish against galaxy merger seems misplaced. Because the smaller galaxy attaches at the top of the spiral and not at the end of the big arms, Arp can't call it a "companion". |
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Arp 278 / NGC 7253A-B | Interacting galaxies | 2023-10-23 00:00:00 | This was my first direct experience with capturing an "Arp Peculiar Galaxy" while participating in the Cloudy Nights EAA Forum October 2023 Challenge. I struggled mightily to find it, since I had not extended SharpCap's library to include the Arps, and the coordinates I found online were J2022, not the J2000 that SharpCap requires. Once I found the target, it was a straight forward capture, which I enjoyed immensely. It certainly shows two galaxies interacting. Most would say "merging" but I didn't appreciate the depths of that controversy at the time. Anyway, I fully enjoyed this observation and it predisposed me to take on the AL challenge when I learned about it a few months later. |
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Arp 279 / NGC 1253 | Interacting galaxies | 2025-01-24 20:54:00 | This is really a remarkable testimony to how sensitive the Apollo M-Mini camera really is. Under 5 minutes and it shows everything necessary. Not the "beautiful" capture I would have liked. But clouds rolled in. The two galaxies are obviously interacting... you can see the little nub on the large galaxy towards the small one as well as the extended spiral arm on the opposite side. The only thing you can't see in this capture is the dust halo around both galaxies, particularly the smaller one. But I'm not sure it adds much to the story in this case. |