Explanation:
A careful look at the full field of view for
this
sharp image reveals a surprising number of
galaxies both near and far toward the constellation
Ursa
Major.
The most striking is clearly
NGC 3718,
the warped spiral galaxy right of center.
NGC 3718's faint spiral arms look
twisted and extended,
its bright central region crossed by obscuring dust lanes.
A mere 150 thousand light-years to the left
is another large spiral galaxy, NGC 3729.
The two are likely
interacting gravitationally,
accounting for the peculiar
appearance of NGC 3718.
While this galaxy pair lies about 52 million light-years away,
the remarkable
Hickson Group 56 can also be
seen clustered just below NGC 3718.
Hickson
Group 56
consists of five
interacting galaxies and lies over 400 million light-years away.
digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080717.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';
