| Description | This observation principally shows two galaxies exchanging mass via a long tidal tail: the larger, NGC 5996 connecting to NGC 5994. 5996 is a barred spiral galaxy, with its bar pointing to 5994. Presumably the two galaxies passed by each other too quickly for 5996 to fully capture 5994. Instead, the interaction peeled off and elongated the eastern arm of 5996 and created the tidal exchange with 5994. While the two NGC galaxies are most noticeable, there are several additional, much smaller galaxies in the image. If you view the second image in the gallery (after the comparison to the Arp image), I overstretched it and successfully brought out an additional dust lane connecting 5996 to two additional stellar-like objects, presumably galaxies, along the western edge of the image. The original Arp image resolves a minimum of 2 additional objects, potentially several more, as the "specs" are suspiciously galaxy shaped. |
