This unusual galaxy pair near the head of Draco looks like an airplane propeller. Arp classified this it in the subgroup “Integral sign spiral” which also indicate its morphology.
Astrophysical it is little known about the object. The pair is only around 48 million lights years away. In combination with its small size both galaxies has to be small one. Astronomers believe these touching galaxies as a result of a collision. A more precisely look shows to different morphologies within the galaxies. While the upper one shows nearly no star formation, the lower galaxy shows many knots and indicate a more active star formation. Damjanov et al. suspect an older stellar population for the upper galaxy.
Beside the astrophysics the galaxy is bright enough to spot it in mid size instruments. For my 16-inch it was an easy target and shows a 1/3 elongation with its foreground star in the middle (propeller axis). The 27-inch shows the remarkable integral sign form without showing any HII spots.
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