This object is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Camelopardalis. It is fairly small in our sky at an apparent diameter of 6 minutes. This 11th magnitude galaxy is located in the far northern sky at a declination of almost +78 degrees.
For being a well studied galaxy, the distance estimates for this object have a large range from 40 to 80 million light years. This results in an estimated range of diameter from 65,000 to 130,000 light years.
This galaxy is fascinating. The detailed, wide, branching brown dust lanes are beautiful and stand out against the bright core. Just as interesting are the oddly looping galaxy arms which have been distorted wildly out of plane. Our viewing perspective gives us a perfect angle to see these distorted arms.
I have included this galaxy in my collection of
coalesced merged galaxies, since this object looks like other merged galaxies in that collection such as
Arp 157. But studies have not found evidence of such a merger here, despite the fact that this is a starburst galaxy. So the distortion of this object may simply be due to a close encounter with a nearby galaxy. My previous
wider FOV image of this galaxy shows a nearby galaxy which could be the culprit.
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