Arp’s Peculiar Galaxies
Page 9 of 9
Arp observations 81-89 of 89 total to date.
| Thumbnail | Title/link | Arp Category | Date Observed | Observer Description |
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Arp 286 / NGC 5560-5566-5569 | Galaxies with infall and attraction | 2024-06-07 23:07:00 | Captured during a brief, clear window during an otherwise cloudy new-moon night. Transparency was suspect though SharpCap's brightness filter stayed quiet until near the end of the capture. Arp 286 embodies 3 wildly interacting galaxies. NGC 5566 is the elongated spiral galaxy in the center; lower-diagonal-left is NGC 5569, a dwarf spiral with extensive filaments connecting it to 5566. One small arm of 5566 has been pulled away slightly by the interaction. NGC 5560 (upper-left) is an extreme barred spiral, with the lower arm pulled towards 5566 and exhibiting filaments "nearly" connecting them. The classic S curve of such galaxies in this case is slightly asymmetrical, and expanded in the direction of 5566. Judging visually, I presume that both of the smaller galaxies will end up merged into 5566, though it's possible 5560 has already "missed" 5566 and is now moving away. The extreme barred structure suggests it's been interacting for a very long time. |
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Arp 298 / NGC 7469 with IC 5283 | Unclassified double galaxies | 2024-10-28 22:26:00 | This is one of the more unusual Arp Catalog entires: two galaxies in close proximity. The only suggestion that they are interacting is a slight twisting of an arm in the small galaxy (IC 5283) towards NGC 7469, an elongated core, and a slight suggestion of a dust trail. NGC 7469 appears to my eyes as being type S0 - aka Lenticular -- intermediate between a spiral and elliptical. There remain clear spiral structure in the core, which is fading in the outer envelope.. |
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Arp 299 / NGC 3690 | Unclassified double galaxies | 2024-05-24 23:07:00 | Another surprisingly good capture given a waning moon just a couple of days past full. Luckily aiming directly away. These galaxies are astonishing. Two appear so well advanced that they have a single NGC number instead of two consecutive, or, as you see often an A/B. They both seemed to be irregular barred galaxies that, by this point, have merged galactic centers. The dwarf IC 694 seems to be sucked in from the bottom of the image as well. |
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Arp 317 / M65 / Leo Triplet | Groups of galaxies | 2024-01-22 20:11:00 | This is a stunningly beautiful group of three spiral galaxies. M66 appears to be bent slightly by the attraction to M65, as does the edge-on NGC 3628. These galaxies are quite bright, distinctly visible even after 60 seconds of integration. I had chosen to observe this cluster both because of their brightness, and because they would be rising in the East when an 87% moon would have passed the meridian. Moonglow is responsible for the brown tinge. I have attached a "bonus" image which is a SeeStar 50 capture from a month earlier, during a very dark and clear morning. This is the best galaxy capture I've achieved with this $500 automated telescope, and demonstrates what it can achieve when conditions are "perfect". |
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Arp 319 / Stephans Quintet / NGC 7320 | Groups of galaxies | 2024-11-03 19:32:00 | Arp 319 depicts a fascinating, compact cluster of 5 galaxies, 4 of which exhibit dramatic distortions -- extended arms, "tails", and a "fan" -- due to gravitational attraction. One imagines the center 4 are approaching a mega merger.... I became aware of Stephan's Quintet originally because of my affection for NGC 7331, its proximity to this group, and the fact that one of the galaxies here is likely gravitationally bound to it. You can see a 2023 capture in the gallery which I found disappointing in the context of this effort. I wasn't aware of the distortions, and didn't try to capture them. I returned on this date to try to do a better one using my monochrome Apollo-M Mini. This is also the first time I "developed" the negative plate found in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies for comparison. |
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Arp 320 / Copeland Septet | Groups of galaxies | 2024-02-19 00:00:06 | These 14th magnitude galaxies are tiny and challenging in the best conditions; even more so with an 83% illuminated moon. We've opted here to enhance them to make them easier to see at the expense of noise in the images. |
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Arp 331 / NGC 383 | Chains of galaxies | 2023-12-06 22:00:06 | This is a very rich galaxy-field. Besides the galaxy cluster that Arp labels, I counted 12 additional galaxies by eye. The Astrometry.net annotation is so cluttered that it's very challenging to read. Included as part of Arp 331 are NGC 383 (central galaxy), 379, 380, 382, 384, 385, 386, and 388. Additional galaxies within the field of view include: NGC 370, 373, 374, 375, 392, 397, 398, 399, 400, 402, 403 plus IC 1614, 1618, 1619. This means the annotation found at least 2 galaxies I didn't count by eye, presumably the IC galaxies (IC 1614 is 17th magnitude). This observation was part of the December 2023 Cloudy Nights EAA Challenge, which is why I observed it when I did. |
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Arp 336 / Helix Galaxy | Miscellaneous galaxies | 2022-12-20 20:30:13 | This was captured very early in my EAA career... I'd had less than 30 days of successful captures. This is a relatively small target which tested the limit of my reduced C9.25 SCT, particularly because I was observing from a not terribly rigid deck the required 10s exposures in SharpCap. By appearances, this is a very conventional spiral galaxy with the exception of the bulge below and to the right. It does not seem to be a merger, as the disk is not distorted. It does appear to be an exchange of materials from one part of the disk to another. I presume Arp didn't know what to make of it either since he categorized it as miscellaneous. |
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Arp 337 / Cigar Galaxy / M82 | Miscellaneous galaxies | 2024-02-19 20:23:00 | This is another very bright and familiar target, though most of my experience has been wide field captures of the M81 Group. The broad outlines of the galaxy are immediately obvious, but the details of venting and the disruption of the galactic center emerge much more slowly. |