Halley's Coronet consists of two interacting galaxies, NGC1532 is the larger edge on spiral galaxy that we can see in the image whilst NGC1531 is the smaller galaxy that looks like the turret on a gun ship. I don't know where the name Halley's Coronet comes from but to me the galaxy looks like the star ship enterprise (yes, I am a Star Trek fan
).
The galaxy is located in the constellation of Eridanus approximately 57.8 million light years from Earth. The two galaxies are engaged in an intergalactic dance with the gravitational pull of NGC1531 causing the distortions in the shape of the main galaxy. The interaction of these galaxies has caused a burst of star formation resulting in the bluish colouring that we can see in the outer spiral arms. A fascinating cosmic collaboration to be sure.
Link to Astrobin post is here.
Data for this object were collected BtC ... (Before the Clouds
).
Comments and critique welcome.
Edit:
Image is now IOTD on Astrobin
Cheers,
Rodney