This image is of NGC474, NGC470 and NGC467. 474 is the large elliptical galaxy with quite a few tidal streams from previous mergers with other galaxies and lies at a distance of 100 million light years. The dinosaurs were ruling the Earth when the light I captured left that galaxy. NGC470 (the blue galaxy) is a spiral galaxy which is currently interacting with NGC474 and lies at a distance of 91 million light years. NGC 467 is a lenticular galaxy and lies at a greater distance of 283 million light years. There are many galaxies at even greater distances in the background. Some are strongly red shifted and seen as faint orange dots.
Integration was 30.9 hours and data taken at Swan Reach Imaging
Like NGC 1316 in Fornax, hard to imagine just how this happens to a galaxy ...I guess, take some nearby little galaxies and enough time, it just happens
Like NGC 1316 in Fornax, hard to imagine just how this happens to a galaxy ...I guess, take some nearby little galaxies and enough time, it just happens
Mike
Gravity is an interesting force, isn't it? I just marvel at the shapes some of these galaxies tend to appear as. When mergers are fully completed giant ellipticals are fairly featureless but during these phases they take on all sorts of interesting shapes. It must have been very intriguing working out the morphology of galaxies when first discovering them.
...I guess, take some nearby little galaxies and enough time, it just happens 
