Object of the Week, April 11, 2021 – Arp 294, NGC 3786 and 3788
Object of the Week, April 11, 2021 – Arp 294, NGC 3786 and 3788
Double Galaxies with Long Filaments in southern Ursa Major
RA: 11 39 42.4 Dec: +31 54 35
Size: 2.2 x 1.2’ and 1.7 x 0.6’ Mag: 13.2p and 13.5p
For this week, I decided to pick another Arp galaxy, actually a pair. Arp 294 is a pair of interacting spiral galaxies. I picked this object because of nice structure in both galaxies and would be nice to observe this one again under darker skies with a Zeiss eyepiece.
The pair sits about 135 million light years in Ursa Major and it appears that it is about to collide. I don’t see much perturbation in the SDSS image yet but can imagine what it will look like after the first pass.
My observing notes about 20 years ago are as follows:
A pair of nearly edge on galaxies with knots visible in both galaxies.
The bottom right galaxy, NGC 3786, is a 3:1 elongated patch with a much brighter nucleus that is slightly off center. Well defined edges. A knot is detected just SW of the core. PA = 90º and 1’ long.
NGC 3788 is a 4:1 elongated patch with a brighter 3:1 elongated core. Well defined edges. A knot is detected on the north end. PA = 0º and 1.5’ long. No filaments, which is off the north end, were detected.
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