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ARP320 – Final Color

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ARP320 - Chile

ARP320 – Chile

This is ARP320 or “Copeland’s Septet”. While Copeland saw 7 this image shows 9 galaxies in the group. They all lie about 410-440 million lys away in Leo.

The most prominent is the warped spiral NGC3753. The elliptical NGC3750, just below, appears to be interacting with it – drawing plume like appendages from each end that produce a warped appearance.

These galaxies are coming together along the curvature in space/time driven by their masses. To get a sort of “3D” perspective on what is happening concentrate your eyes on the 2 central interacting players, while visualizing the others being in a semi-circle surrounding them, and slowly swarming toward them.

PlaneWave 12.5″ Astrograph with ZWO ASI 6200 camera, Astrodon filters and ASA gearless DDM-85 mount. F/8 LRGB (34/8min L, 14/4min RGB each, all 2×2 bin).