NGC 2998 is the major galaxy in a group of 6 to 8 galaxies about 220 to 230 million light-years distant that sits between the paws of Ursa Major. It is a huge spiral. Assuming 230 million light-years it is some 230,000 light-years across. It is classed as SAB(rs)c by NED and simply as Sc by the NGC project. Its huge size dwarfs the other galaxies in the group. NGC 3005, a warped Sb spiral is small by comparison yet 110,000 light-years across. This would be considered a large spiral but for the presence of NGC 2998 looming over it.

The warped disk of NGC 3005 would seem to indicate it has had some sort of run-in with another galaxy in the group. But its distortion is minor compared to that of MCG +07-20-052 which is listed at NED as being a double galaxy though looks like 3 to me. MCG +07-20-052 NED01 is the only one with redshift data. NED makes no attempt to classify it or MCG +07-20-052 NED02. 01 looks a bit like an edge on but is blue so more likely an irregular of some sort. NED02 seems to be round, again blue so likely an irregular. But what about the streak above NED01. Is it considered part of one of the other two? Nothing at its position is listed in NED, not even as part of a galaxy. I've marked it with a question mark in the annotated image. So is this two or maybe three interacting galaxies or the one galaxy torn apart by a run-in with some other galaxy in the group? I find nothing on it. I'll assume it is a two or three dwarfs that may or may not be interacting. Since the entire complex is some 75,000 light-years across I'm stretching to call these dwarfs. Large low surface brightness irregular galaxies maybe but its large for that as well. I sure wish someone would study this mess and figure out what is going on here. In the meantime how the heck did Arp decide not to include such a mash-up in his Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies?

NGC 3002 is just a star. However, some catalogs list it as being the mash-up MCG +07-20-052. It was "discovered" by Lord Rosse or more likely an assistant Bindon Stoney. The same night they found the double star NGC 3000 and another single star NGC 3004. January 25, 1851 must have been a hazy night Birr Castle. Though to their credit, they did discover the real galaxies NGC 3004, NGC 3006 and NGC 3008 that night as well. In their defense, the stars were likely right at their magnitude limit. That can cause a star to sometimes appear fuzzy, especially if seeing wasn't all that great. George and Bindon Stoney were brothers working for Lord Rosse who often took credit for their discoveries. Bindon's middle name is Blood which I've always found interesting wondering its source.

NGC 2998 was discovered by John Herschel on March 23, 1835.

There is one asteroid that photobombed the image. Details are in the annotated image. At an estimated magnitude of 17.8, it is much brighter than those I normally pick up.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME