Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Aquarius (Aqr)  ·  Contains:  NGC 6975  ·  NGC 6976  ·  NGC 6977  ·  NGC 6978
Hickson 88, Gary Imm
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Hickson 88

Hickson 88, Gary Imm
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Hickson 88

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Description

This object is a rarely imaged galaxy group located 300 million light years away in the constellation of Aquarius at a declination of -6 degrees. The group consists of four spiral galaxies. From top left to lower right, the galaxies are NGC 6978, NGC 6977, NGC 6976 and PGC 65612. Each galaxy is about 1 arc-minute in size, which corresponds to a true diameter of 90,000 light years.

Looking closely, all 4 of these galaxies are not quite symmetric. They may have been slightly disturbed through interaction, perhaps with each other. Several other faint galaxies, seen as smudges, are also visible and are believed to be part of this group as well.

I like the tiny, much more distant orange galaxies which are visible in the background, especially near the center of the image. These galaxies are over 2 billion light years away.

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