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Credit & Copyright: David
Vernet , Jean-Franöois Bax , Serge Brunier,
OCA/C2PU
Explanation:
This tantalizing trio of galaxies sometimes called the Draco Group,
is located in the northern constellation of (you guessed it)
Draco, the Dragon.
From left to right are
face-on spiral NGC 5985,
elliptical galaxy NGC 5982, and
edge-on spiral NGC 5981,
all found within this
single telescopic field of view that spans a little more than
the width of the full moon.
While the group is far too small to be a
galaxy cluster,
and has not been
catalogued
as a compact galaxy group,
the three galaxies all do lie roughly
100 million light-years from planet Earth.
Not as well known as other tight
groupings of galaxies,
the contrast in visual appearance
still makes this triplet an attractive subject for astroimagers.
On close examination with
spectrographs,
the bright core of striking spiral NGC 5985 shows
prominent emission in specific wavelengths of light, prompting
astronomers to classify it as a
Seyfert,
a type of active galaxy.
This
impressively deep exposure
hints at a faint dim halo along with sharp-edged shells surrounding
elliptical NGC 5982, evidence of past galactic mergers.
It also reveals many even more
distant background galaxies.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day