| Description | Finally a dark, moonless night to observe these galaxies. NGC 5395 is a near classic spiral galaxy only slightly distorted by its interaction with NGC 5394, which is an extreme barred spiral. Lovely. It certainly looks like a merger, or at least a strip of stars by 5395 from 5394, which presumably explains the barred spiral configuraiton. Often we see these galaxies by themselves: not often we get to see the theft in progress. It also appears, especially in my inverted image, that there is interaction between 5394 and a tiny galaxy down and right on the image, connected by a faint filament. IC 4356 is also nearby, but does not appear to be interacting with the other three. The nickname Heron Galaxies is apt, though I don't see it widely used. Arp's remarks, "Arcs of high S.B. around nucleus of companion" is certainly evident, and represents further confirmation of the "high surface brightness" classification. Anyway, a fun capture on a dark night. |
