ARP128

Arp 128/UGC827 is a pair of galaxies in Pisces, near M74. Arp considered them interacting, putting them into his class: Elliptical and elliptical-like galaxies close to and perturbing spirals. The elliptical has a redshift that puts it 496 million light-years away while the barred spiral is listed at a redshift of 563 million light years. This is a bit large difference for related galaxies but not impossible. Still, I was ready to say no relation until I further stretched the image and those two linear features just above the spiral appeared. Fortunately, this is in the SDSS survey. Their image shows the same feature but blurred into one broad feature rather than two narrow ones. I don't know why the difference. What are they? I found nothing in the literature about this oddity. It doesn't show in Arp's photo with the 200". If anyone finds something on them please let me know. For now, I'll have to agree with those saying these two are interacting due to the odd apparent debris above the western member.

There are a few other galaxies in the image about the same redshift as these two. Since I find little on any of them other than the redshift I've just prepared an annotated image showing their distance in billions of light years. As usual, G denotes a galaxy while Q a quasar. The label is immediately right of the object. When this wasn't possible a line indicates the labeled object. There are three asteroids in the image as well. (56725) 2000 NY12 at magnitude 19.2, 2009 ST123 at magnitude 20 and 2002 FL21 at magnitude 20.4. All are rather faint and difficult to find so they are also shown in the annotated image.

Near the bottom, left of center, is SDSS J011804.83+143158.6. This galaxy is identified by name on the annotated image. It is 1.6 billion light-years away and very blue in color. This is odd for a galaxy at that distance which often shows a reddish color from interstellar dust even if really a blue spiral. This would indicate massive star formation and sure enough, it is listed in the ROSAT X-ray Source catalog as RXS J011804.4+143152. Sure wish we were, say, 1.5 billion light-years closer to get a good look at this one. It is a narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxy. This too indicates it is a very active galaxy with a likely well-fed black hole at its core.

There's an interesting pair of distant galaxies at the bottom of my image just right of center. The only thing shown at that position is SDSS J011721.74+143209.6 with a position of the left, fainter and smaller, galaxy. Nothing is listed for the position of the brighter one. No redshift data is provided for it/them. I find problems like this constantly, still with the stated precision of the SDSS their frequency does surprise me.

My cropped image IS reproduced at 0.67" per pixel while the full image is at 1" per pixel (1.012" if you want to get picky about it).

Arp's image:
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp128.jpeg

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10'x3', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Related Designations for ARP128

ARP129

Arp 129 is in Arp's category for Elliptical and elliptical-like galaxies close to and perturbing spirals. It is in the same field with Arp 63 so I'm just reusing the same image for both. Arp did the same with his image of these two as both fit within the corrector on the 200" scope he used.

While much brighter than NGC 2944 that is Arp 63 this pair didn't receive an entry in the NGC catalog. The elliptical like galaxy is on the east and is PGC 27546. Seligman classifies it as a lenticular galaxy SB0?. The spiral it is said by Arp to be perturbing is PGC 27547 which Arp classifies as SAB(rs)bc? pec. Note too that while the PGC galaxies are numbered from west to east these two are reversed for some reason. It could be that in the LEDA catalog the spiral was classed as elliptical and the elliptical as spiral. Maybe this mistake is to blame. This is only a wild guess on my part. The UGC lists both as Number 5146 in their catalog avoiding any such error. The pair is also about 310 to 320 million light-years distant by redshift though there's a slight difference with the spiral having a slightly less (nearer) redshift. Still, it does appear they are or did interact. Though the lenticular galaxy shows little distortion and the pulled out arm of the spiral could be "natural" and not due to any interaction at all with the lenticular. I doubt it but it is possible. It does appear to my eye that the spiral is closer same as redshift indicates. But how much closer is unknown.

While nearly all my full-size images (2004x1336 pixels) are displayed at 1" per pixel this one was taken half-frame at 0.5" per pixel and is displayed at that resolution even though the night didn't really support more than about my normal 1" resolution.

Arp's image: http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp129.jpeg

14" LX 200R @ f/10, L=6x10'x1, RGB=2x10'x2, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Related Designations for ARP129

ARP13

This field of Pegasus galaxies lies about 260 million light-years from us and is located in the northwest corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. I centered on the triple ring galaxy II Zw 188/IC 5285. That's how it is described in the CGCG catalog. Unless the core is considered a ring I'm not sure where the third ring is hiding. It is a rather red spiral indicating no new star birth of any significance for some time unless it is hidden in the dense core region. The outer ring is not a nice neat oval but has a rather irregular shape which seems hard to explain. It reminds me of M94 with the large but faint outer ring though M94's ring is more regularly shaped. It was discovered by Stephane Javelle on November 23, 1897.

To the northeast is NGC 7489. It is listed as Sd by NED and Sc by the NGC Project. It is a nice face on spiral. Discovered in 1863 by William Lassell using a 48" reflector, it has a strange elongated feature at the north end. Almost looks like an edge on galaxy. Maybe it is, however it isn't listed in any catalog that I found. But then many of the bright galaxies in this field are anonymous as far as I can tell. If it is part of the galaxy it is a very strange feature. The arms to the south seem oddly cut off compared to those to the north. At the bottom of the image is the flat galaxy 2MFCG 17362. Like all the other cataloged galaxies in the image but the first two, it is a find of the 2 micron infrared survey. The only one with a known redshift. Have these three interacted in the past? Could this account for the odd ring of IC 5285 and/or the odd arm structure of NGC 7489? I found nothing to indicate this has even been looked at let alone answered. In any case, I doubt they have interacted but it is possible.

The field had quite a bit of IFN but my exposure was too short for the poor transparency conditions so I pretty well processed it out not certain which was real and which was a product of varying conditions. All galaxies listed at NED are identified in the annotated image, that's not very many of them. This is a poorly studied region.

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

Related Designations for ARP13

ARP130

When I first imaged Arp 130 conditions were poor but I picked up what might have been a plume to the north from the northern spiral. I put it down to reshoot it. Also on my to-do list was the blue irregular galaxy IC 5377. Not realizing the two were in the same field I took IC 5377 last September. I had no idea, at the time, I was retaking Arp 130 to check on that plume. So the Tower of "Babble" nailed me again. I looked up what that other galaxy was and saw IC 5378 and thought that was one I'd have expected Arp to have in his atlas. Little did I know he did and I'd already taken it. Turns out the plume apparently wasn't real as it isn't seen in this image under better conditions. Also at the time, I did Arp 130 the Sloan DR9 images weren't available so I couldn't check there. Now that DR9 has been released I can say the plume can't be seen there either. Though some IFN is seen faintly in the new image to the lower right of IC 5377 and above and to the left of the asteroid 2008 VD43. I thought it a smear on my flat frame but it is real.

Turns out there's little information on the irregular galaxy IC 5377. It seems to have two condensations off center surrounded by a haze of blue stars. It isn't nearly as blue as my previous post of UGC 9128. Instead, it is rather typical of blue irregular galaxies. it appears to be rather lonely with no other galaxy for a neighbor in my image at its distance but that is only an illusion due to my limited field of view. Only a half degree away (280,000 light years minimum) is the much more famous edge on galaxy NGC 7814. Interaction with it could explain its new star formation quite easily though it could be due to other things as well. In any case, it is likely a satellite of NGC 7814. Though without any papers on it this is only my speculation. My poorly processed image of NGC 7814 from 2008 when I didn't have the software I do today is at: http://www.spacebanter.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2264&d=1228166947 .

As to Arp 130, he considered the elliptical to be perturbing the spiral but if their redshift distances are right they are 20 million light-years apart and thus not at all related. Though a redshift distance difference can be due to relative velocity and not indicate true separation. Finding no other distance determination the relationship of these two, if any, can't be determined. It was discovered by Isaac Roberts in 1895. I can't find the exact date, however.

The galaxy below Arp 130 is IC 5379. While its redshift is the same as that of the southern member of Arp 130 for some reason NED now says they can't calculate a distance since the Hubble flow model doesn't apply here. I don't understand this comment. When I researched Arp 130 the first time NED had no such problem and said its distance was 270 million light-years in agreement with the southern member of Arp 130. Now that has changed. Hence the question mark on the annotated image. The other two IC galaxies were also found by Isaac Roberts also in 1895, likely the same night as Arp 130/IC 5378

Three asteroids are in the image. One passed right over an anonymous galaxy which makes it hard to see. It also was the faintest of the three in my data. See the annotated image for details.

No other galaxy in the image has redshift data. Only a handful are even listed in NED but with little other information available. I've not included them. However, there is one galaxy group in the image which I have annotated but it has no distance so that is noted with "na". In this case, all 4 members were identified at NED with one trying hard to hide behind a star.

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

Related Designations for ARP130

ARP132

Arp 132 falls in Arp's category "Elliptical close to and perturbing spirals." It is about 350 to 360 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo just north of Crater. It appears the western galaxy is the spiral and the eastern the elliptical that Arp refers to. Oddly NED classes both as E pec one place and the obvious spiral as Sb pec in another. It appears the E pec classification is a misprint. The redshifts of these two aren't quite the same indicating an 8 million light year difference. This doesn't mean they are really this far apart or didn't interact in the past. Still, I have problems with them as a real interacting pair. The elliptical, while labeled peculiar, probably for the strong core and much weaker outer areas (is this a disk seen face on or a sphere of low stellar density) it is quite even. I'd suspect any recent interaction to have distorted it in an unsymmetrical way. There are a few other galaxies at about the same distance in the image including the far larger CGCG 011-062 to the far left of my image. None of them appear likely candidates either for interaction with the western member of Arp 132. Is an interaction even necessary as these are quite small galaxies some of which just seem naturally distorted? Another possibility I didn't find anyone considering is that the southern part of the spiral is really a separate galaxy with a tidal tail looking like a spiral arm so this is a merger in progress. I found virtually nothing of use for deciding this in the literature.

I was pleased to find when I checked the Hubble Legacy site that Hubble had imaged this pair. Until I brought up the image, that is. The image was of the pair of galaxies to the northwest of Arp 132, under asteroid Dodaira, one galaxy is labeled "G 1.4" in the annotated image. Even they were at the very edge of the field. Probably these were just random field images taken when some other instrument was actually taking data on Arp 132. This is done quite often with Hubble.

There is a galaxy group located near the upper left corner of my image that has an average distance of 360 million light-years with 22 members. No diameter is given. It's possible Arp 132 is a member of this group as are most of the other galaxies at about this distance in the image. Its core is marked by its name, MZ 04712. The spiral galaxy to the left and a bit above center is PGC 034689, anSA(s)c about 370 million light-years distant. This is the same as Arp 132. They are likely related.

This field is out of the Sloan survey field yet there's a lot of information on the other galaxies in the image so the annotated image is rather well covered with redshift distances for a change.

Arp 132 is in the same field as the LCLG -03 080 galaxy group which consists of 9 members at about 1.5 billion light-years. Those I could identify as part of the 9 members are noted by G L followed by their redshift distance. LCLG stands for Las Campanas Loose Groups in case you were wondering. The center of the group is marked by its name. Oddly there are quite a few other galaxies at about 1.5 billion light years that are not in the group. Some of these, but not all, are in the Las Campanas Red Shift catalog. So why aren't they in the group? I have no idea but if I include them as part of the group the count goes well over 9. My head hurts.

The image contains two asteroids; (14313) Dodaira at an estimated magnitude of 18.2 and (107981) 2001 FY130 at an estimated magnitude of 19.5. The naming citation of Dodaira reads:
"Dodaira station was dedicated in 1962 with a 0.91-m reflector and 0.50-m Schmidt telescope as a branch station of the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory in Saitama prefecture, and its operation was terminated in Mar. 2000. It was located where the borders of Tokugawa, Ogawamachi and Higashichichibu meet."

So what happened to those nice telescopes? If they are no longer using them I'd be willing to take the 0.91-meter scope off their hands.

Arp's image
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp132.jpeg

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10'x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Related Designations for ARP132

ARP133

ARP 133 falls under Arp's very odd category of galaxies with nearby fragments. It consists of two galaxies, NGC 541 the large cD/S0 galaxy to the southwest of a pair of elliptical galaxies that are Arp 308. The fragment is the very blue dwarf galaxy to its northeast (upper right). This is not a fragment at all but a dwarf galaxy undergoing extreme starburst star formation. It is known as Minkowski's Object. NGC 541 is a radio galaxy with jets. One is directed directly at Minkowski's Object and is credited with triggering the starburst activity. Minkowski's Object has a different redshift but this is more an indication of relative velocity than a real distance difference. Arp 133 with its blue companion galaxy is almost identical in appearance to the much nearer ARP 134 (M49 and its blue "fragment" UGC 07636.)

Arp had no knowledge of this at the time of his image. His image carries a note that it was taken with a "Polaroid" filter. I assume he means polarizing filter. How it was aligned it doesn't say. Arp's comment on the image reads: "Central member of galaxy group associated with 3C40." 3C40 is a strong radio source. This is not the radio source involved with the starburst activity in Minkowski's Object. Instead, it is due to ARP 308 also in the image.

Notes about the annotated image.
Objects considered part of Abell 194 are listed by name.

Redshift distance using NED's 5 year WMAP assumptions are used. They are expressed in billions of light-years. Differences in cluster member radial velocity are most likely due to relative velocity around the cluster's center of mass rather than a true distance indicator. Most, likely lie within a few million light-years of each other. The label is immediately right of the object when possible. Otherwise, a line will connect the object and its label.

XMMU J012535.9-012546 is an X-ray galaxy. It appears to be a very compact dwarf of some sort.

ARK 45: A note at NED says "Together with NGC 0547 this is the radio source 3C 40." I'm not sure how this was determined, especially since NGC 545 is in the middle yet not considered part of 3C 40 that I found. Also, note its redshift is surprisingly different.

NSCS J012537-011739 is a galaxy cluster at 4.97 billion light-years. It contains 36 members. The diameter isn't specified. I see a dozen or two within a few minutes of the center. Many look like faint stars.

WHL J012538.1-011301 is another galaxy cluster at 5.3 billion light-years. It contains only 8 members. Its center is a couple seconds of arc from a faint galaxy, probably the anchoring member. The NED position is only approximate so likely means to point to this galaxy.

The UvES (Ultraviolet Excess Source) is likely a quasar given its distance.

Arp's image of these galaxies is made from the same plate and cropped to exclude the other atlas entry. Most of his images are shorter than the one hour exposure on 103a-0 image. The added time is likely due to losses in the "Polaroid" filter. He lists the seeing as average 1" to 1.5".

NGC 535 and 543 were discovered by Heinrich d'Arrest on October 31, 1864.
NGC 541 was discovered by Heinrich d'Arrest on October 30, 1864.
NGC 545 and 547 were discovered by William Herschel on October 1, 1785. It isn't in either Herschel 400 observing program.
NGC 548 was discovered by George Searle on November 2, 1867.

Arp's image of Arp 133 with an asteroid trail:
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp133.jpeg

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10'x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Related Designations for ARP133

ARP134

Arp 134 is a galaxy very familiar to amateur astronomers being it is one of the biggest and brightest galaxies in the sky and looks perfectly normal to the eye and in most photos. I'm talking about the giant elliptical galaxy M49. So why would a perfectly normal elliptical make the list? Seems it is eating its companion UGC 07636. It is in Arp's classification as "Elliptical or elliptical-like galaxies; with nearby fragments", Arp had no comment on this one. UGC 07636 is the "fragment." Apparently, he thought it part of M49 rather than an appetizer as he didn't give it an identification and most Arp lists don't include it as part of Arp 134 even though it is. In my shot, it is the blue splat like feature on the "front" of M49. Looks to me like where a blue phaser is hitting the Enterprise's shields and the energy is being spread across the shields. Notice the blue stars ripped from the galaxy spreading into M 49 or at least appearing to do so. In a black and white photo like you normally see this contrast is lost. M49 was first recorded by Charles Messier on February 19, 1771.

There are a lot of other NGC galaxies in the image. Considering we are looking at the heart of the Virgo Cluster this isn't surprising. NGC 4464 (E3) is at the top of the image a bit right of center. It was discovered by William Herschel on December 28, 1785. NGC 4465 (Sc) is much nearer Arp 134 on the very edge of its halo at 2 o'clock, just under a small blue star. It is rather small with little detail as it is 5 or 6 times farther away at 351 million light years and thus not a member of the Virgo cluster. It was discovered by Guillaume Bigourdan on March 31, 1886. NGC 4467 (E2) is even closer to Arp 134 and thus within the fainter outer halo at the 3 o'clock position just left of a rather bright blue star. It was discovered by Otto Struve on April 28, 1851. NGC 4471 is often equated with. At the very bottom of my image barely left of NGC 4471 is often considered the same as PGC 41185. This is highly unlikely. Its discoverer was Julius Schmidt on July 29, 1861. His scope was most likely incapable of seeing this galaxy. His position is halfway between the two stars below and a bit left of the galaxy. They are bright enough for him to have seen them both. Which he considered the galaxy is unknown but it is most likely safe to say NGC 4471 is just a star. See the annotated image. NGC 4470 (Sa?) is another confusing entry. It was discovered by William Herschel on January 23, 1784. He measured its position in relation to a Messier galaxy but used the wrong one so got the position quite wrong. This led to it being entered into the NGC as NGC 4610. Later on December 28, 1785 he found it again getting the position correct. That resulted in the NGC 4470 entry.

Notice how all these members of the cluster are far smaller than M49. That's because M49 is a giant among galaxies and one of the anchor galaxies whose gravity holds the cluster together (along with the dark matter of course). One other NGC galaxy is trying to get into the image. You see the western side of its halo at the far left. Normally it is a star on the edge of my CCD that is making a glaring entrance to the image. Here we just see the outer halo of NGC 4492, most of which is out of the frame. So this time the "glare" is real not just a reflection. It too was discovered by William Herschel on December 28, 1785. None of the three William Herschel found are in either observing program.

The spiral galaxy in the lower right corner is PGC 41107/CGCG 042-125 Sb(r) It isn't a cluster member being at 350 million light years and thus likely in a group with NGC 4465 mentioned earlier. Nearer to Arp 134 almost on a line to its core from CGCG 042-125 is the weirdly named VIII Zw 189 (E0) and it is a member of the cluster.

Arp's 200" photo of this galaxy is at:
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/frames.html
It has south up rather than north up as for my photo. UGC 7636 is at the upper right in his blue light image of the system. Since the halo is rather lacking in blue light it barely shows in his image but UGC 7636 being very blue shows strongly. A color CCD image gives a more natural look at the situation than does a film image taken in one color.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=6x10' RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Related Designations for ARP134

ARP135

Arp 135, NGC 1023 is also the namesake of a galaxy group -- the NGC 1023 group of course. It is close by at only about 20 million light years by redshift and 35 million light-years by Tully fisher measurements. So it is right in our backyard! The galaxy is 45 to 75 million light-years across depending one which distance estimate is used.

Arp classed this one under "Elliptical or Elliptical Like Galaxies with Nearby Fragments". Arp 135 would be "elliptical like" as it is actually an SB0 galaxy. SB for barred spiral (we are looking right down the bar so it isn't very obvious) and the 0 means there is little to no dust and gas remaining in the galaxy -- the same as an elliptical galaxy. Without dust and gas, there can be little to no star formation so the stars are all old ones. Since blue stars are short-lived there can be few if any in a galaxy without star formation going on. This is why the galaxy is a yellowish orange color, the color of stars that have a long enough lifespan to still be around after star formation ceased. The "fragment" Arp refers to is NGC 1023A, the blue object at the left end of the galaxy. It is classed as a blue irregular galaxy with a question mark indicating this is not a firm classification. It has a somewhat different redshift than the part of Arp 135 "behind" it so likely really is a separate galaxy. I say behind as that's what it looks like. It may well be in front of it. In any case, it is moving away from us faster than Arp 135 so if it is in front a collision may be in the future.

It is one of the 8 galaxies in the cluster in any case. The blue color would indicate interaction with Arp 135 is likely triggering the star formation. Arp 135 appears to have lost its dust and gas at least a couple billion years ago so would have little to contribute to this object making it unlikely it is just part of Arp 135, its differing redshift would also indicate this. The other members of the group in my image are also quite blue. They are NGC 1023B (classed simply as a dwarf galaxy) further left of 1023 and almost hidden under a very bright star. The 4th member is the dwarf spiral looking galaxy NGC 1023D (also classed as a dwarf with no mention of it being a spiral) near the bottom edge of the image directly below Arp 135. Even its core appears blue, probably why it is not considered a spiral. Why these galaxies have so much star formation still possible while Arp 135 doesn't is not explained in any of the literature I consulted. In case you are wondering NGC 1023C is out of the frame above Arp 135, it too is classed as a dwarf. I didn't look up the other members since they all were out of frame. All 8 fit in an area of space of 6 million cubic light-years.

Arp's comment on this one reads: "Similar nebulosity about one diameter further east." This apparently refers to NGC 1023B. Is he trying to say it too might be a "fragment" of NGC 1023? It certainly is similar to the 1023A.

NGC 1023 was discovered by William Herschel on October 18, 1786 and is in the original Herschel 400 observing program. My notes from that on September 10, 1985 with my Cave 10" f/5 at up to 180x reads: "Large galaxy with nearly round bright core and an even brighter (but not starlike) nucleus. It is surrounded by a faint highly oval outer halo."

Arp's Palomar telescope view of it is at:
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp135.jpeg

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

Related Designations for ARP135

ARP136

Arp 136 is an SO galaxy seen nearly edge on that has a blue tidal plume on its eastern end. It appears surrounded in a faint halo of blue stars as well. Is this a plume or the remains of some dwarf galaxy it has eaten? Plume seems the favored explanation though there's little on this. Arp classed it under Elliptical and elliptical-like galaxies with nearby fragments. I assume the plume is the fragment. I don't see anything else that qualifies. Arp's comment; "Faint streamer off one end of E galaxy." I assume the E means the east end of the galaxy as Arp 136 is a single galaxy. It is considered paired with another to the NE but it isn't included in Arp's image and would be more northeastern in any case. There could be a faint stream running from Arp 134 to the northeastern companion. Or it might be noise from that horrid double star. Also, the obvious puff of stars off the eastern end may, in fact, be an entirely separate galaxy. In the color pushed SDSS image it has a very strong blue color compared to Arp 136. Though there's no separate designation for it that shows up in NED. If so and if the faint possible stream is just noise then there's little evidence of interaction between the two. I can't find anything on this, however. When I push the color as I have in this image I too get a blue color to this plume so I believe it real and likely a colliding dwarf galaxy that was gas-rich so capable for forming new stars when the gas is compressed by the collision.

Arp 136 is NGC 5820 and is located about 160 million light-years away based on its redshift though a note in NED says it is 69 megaparsecs distant which would be about 225 million light-years based on a different redshift value. Why they are so far apart I don't know. The average of two Tully-Fisher measurements agree with the redshift distance. It is located in northern Bootes just about to the Draco border. It was discovered by William Herschel on May 5, 1788.

It is paired with NGC 5821 which has a similar redshift also indicating a distance of about 160 million light-years. It seems a bit distorted but I see no tidal plume. Still, it is a possible cause of Arp 136's plume (if one really exists). The little SO like galaxy just south of NGC 5821 is SDSS J145901.42+535411.1 is the third member of the Arp 136 system as it is a dwarf galaxy also at about 160 million light-years. It was also discovered by William Herschel but nearly a year later on April 24, 1789. Neither it nor NGC 5820 are in either of the two Herschel 400 observing programs.

The spiral directly south of Arp 136 with a foreground star almost on top of it is SBS 1457+540 at 360 million light-years. To the southeast of Arp 136 is the small round galaxy SDSS J145849.34+535216.0 at one billion light-years. Continuing southeast about the same distance you come to SDSS J145856.52+535149.7 at 1.25 billion light-years. The tiny galaxy just north of Arp 136 is SDSS J145838.29+535354.0 also at one billion light-years distance.

The little SO like galaxy just south of NGC 5821 is SDSS J145901.42+535411.1 which is the third member of the Arp 136 system as it is a dwarf galaxy also at about 160 million light-years.

The large galaxy southwest of Arp 136 is UGC 09632, a SAd spiral about 150 million light-years distant and thus likely a member of Arp 136's group. Its arm structure is rather muted though I see no tidal features. The puffball of a galaxy off of its northwest end is SDSS J145751.63+534755.7 at 1.1 billion light-years. The galaxy just below UGC 09632 is SDSS J145753.64+534602.5 at 145 million light-years so it is likely a dwarf member of the group.

After so many galaxies about 145 to 160 million light-years you might think there's a cluster here and in fact, there is. It is ZwCl 1457.5+5415 with some 245 members with the diameter of 3.7 degrees. It is centered on the odd spiral galaxy at the top of my image. But appearances can be deceiving. The spiral with the very weird spiral arms is SDSS J145902.19+540428.7 and is about 1 billion light-years distant by redshift. It appears this cluster is really several unrelated galaxy clusters as many other galaxies in this image are about 1 billion light-years distant.

The galaxy just above the brilliant double star is PGC 053553. I find no redshift data on it. The double star made this a processing nightmare is two main sequence F1 stars of 6.9 and 7.6 magnitude. They carry the designation WDS SHJ 191. Hipparcos says the upper fainter one is 347 light-years distant while the brighter is 383 light-years away. Thus they appear unrelated. I need to invest in newer filters with better anti-reflection coatings than these. Bright stars really are a problem.

SDSS image
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj229/Astronomerica/SDSS-48/NGC5820-SDSS.jpg

Arp's image
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp136.jpeg

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10 RGB=2x10, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
Imaged April 29, 2009 UTC

Related Designations for ARP136

ARP137

Arp 137/NGC 2914 is the other peculiar galaxy in the image just to the southeast (lower left) of Arp 232. It falls under Arp's category of Elliptical and Elliptical-like Galaxies: Material emanating from elliptical galaxies. It does have a plume of material coming off the south end and a small faint one off the northern end. Arp's image makes it look like there's an odd hook like arm coming off the northern side as well. I don't know which he is referring to. In my image that northern "hook" is seen as a continuous ring-like structure, or is it a one-armed spiral? Also of interest is the very high proper motion of a star near the "bright" star to the east of Arp 137. In Arp's image, it is northwest of the "bright" star while some 45 years or so later it has moved to the south-southwest of it. I've marked it as HPM in the annotated image. William Herschel found this galaxy on March 3, 1786.

Arp 232/NGC 2911 turned out more interesting than I thought it would be when I was looking at the raw data and Arp's image. Arp put it in his category: Galaxies (not classifiable as S or E); Appearance of fission. I really don't see it in either his image or mine but it sure does have some interesting dust lanes. Two linear ones that make an X near the core rather similar to NGC 660 just not as spectacular. Another forms an arc. Could it be the cause of his fission category? Arp did comment on the larger linear dust lane saying "Absorption lane reaching away from galaxy." It barely shows in his image. I don't see the other dust lanes in his image. Note that Dennis Webb's webpage puts this one in the concentric rings category. He tells me that from Arp's notes it was ambiguous which category it belonged in. He thought it looked more like concentric rings was the right category and put it there for the web page. Later researching this one for their book Dennis contacted Arp who told him it belonged in the fission category. That is what the book shows but the webpage hasn't been updated as of the time I am typing this.

Arp 232 is NGC 2911 and is part of a group of galaxies that includes 3 other NGC objects though one is subject to debate. One of the others is also an Arp galaxy as well though I didn't realize it at the time. Nor did I realize it a month later when I took it though that data is not as good so I'm going with this image. It was discovered by William Herschel on March 11, 1784. Like the other one in this image, he found it isn't in either of the Herschel 400 observing programs.

Arp 232 is classed as SA(s)0:pec;Sy LINER by NED and the NGC Project. NED puts it about 155 million light years distant by its red shift. All that dust is very unusual for an S0 galaxy as is the very distorted shape of its outer envelope. While I found nothing on it, it does appear to me it interacted with or ate a companion. Something had to trigger the Seyfert and LINER activity of its nucleus. I didn't see anything indicating it was interacting with Arp 137 but certainly that galaxy has had a run in with some other galaxy to create its southern plume and odd arm structure. Arp 137 is classed as SB(s)ab by NED and and the NGC project. So none of them see the arm as a ring like I was thinking. It's nearly identical red shift puts it at 160 million light years making the separation between the two at about 225 thousand light years if they were at the same distance from us. Close enough I'd suspect some interaction.

To add to the oddities in this image there's a star-like object just off the NE arm of Arp 137. NED identifies it as SDSS J093403.79+100646.8 saying it is part of Arp 137. It isn't a star, that is certain. Its point spread function (how its light is distributed) shows it to have an angular size and not just a point source like a star. But is it truly part of Arp 137? I don't think so. The galaxy shows no hint of star clusters at my resolution. For there to be a single one making this bright blob and for it to be just off the side of the "ring" doesn't seem reasonable. Adding to the confusion NED, while saying it is part of Arp 137 with a redshift of 160 million light years gives this object a redshift that puts it 1.8 billion light years distant. Far beyond Arp 137. NED doesn't say why it ignores this and thinks it's part of Arp 137. Though I've seen a couple cases where the SDSS redshift was apparently very wrong I doubt this is one of them. I don't have a final answer, however.

The tiny blue galaxy NE of Arp 232 is another problem. Some sources say it is NGC 2912. Other sources say NGC 2912 is a duplicate entry for NGC 2914 (Arp 137) The NGC project, however, says NGC 2912 is just a star. I like Dr. Corwin's logic and will go with him and NED saying NGC 2912 is a star. Seligman agrees with Dr. Corwin on this. The star was first recorded by Herman Schultz on April 3, 1870. The PGC records it as PGC 3325919. That leaves this blue galaxy. NED and Seligman say it is PGC 027167. They put it at a redshift distance of 172 million light-years making it a dwarf member of the group. They class it as Im, an irregular dwarf of the Magellanic type. To me, it looks like a very small spiral but that likely is due to my limited resolution.

There are many more minor members of the group as well as one large member, NGC 2919 in the upper left of my image. It shows a lot of interesting detail. NED classes it as SAB(r)b: with a redshift that puts it only 127 million light-years away. Is it truly a member of the group with a somewhat unusual red sift due to its motions in the cluster or just a foreground object. I flipped a mental coin and it came up with it being a member of the group. It was discovered by William Tempel on February 1, 1877. The annotated image lists galaxies that have a redshift indicating they are members of the group listed by catalog name and distance. Galaxies and quasars not members of the group with redshift data are listed by their redshift distance. All distances are in billions of light years and determined using NED's 5 year WMAP option.

Arp 232/NGC 2911 was discovered by William Herschel on March 11, 1784. NGC 2912, just a star, was cataloged by Herman Schultz on April 3, 1870. Arp 137/NGC 2914 was discovered by William Herschel on March 3, 1786. Neither of Herschel's discoveries are in either of the Herschel observing programs. NGC 2919 was discovered by Wilhelm Tempel on February 1, 1877.

If all this isn't enough there are two asteroids in the image also identified on the annotated image. Both are near the top of the image. (51757) 2001 LA4 at magnitude 19.4 is directly above Arp 232 while (78275) 2002 PU30 at magnitude 19.8 is about 3 and a half minutes northeast of it coming out of the right side of a rather bright star.

Arp's image of Arp 137 is at:
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp137.jpeg

Arp's image of Arp 232 is at:
http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Figures/big_arp232.jpeg

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10'x3, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Related Designations for ARP137