Galactic interactions: NGC 5296 & NGC 5297

[gorann]

A galactic interaction that has been missed in the Arp catalogue. The larger barred galaxy NGC 5297, with a diameter of 150 000 ly, is clearly interacting with NGC 5296, a smaller lenticular galaxy. At least one of the arms appears distorted from the interaction and there is also a faint sream of stars between the galaxies. The galaxies are about 100 million ly away from us in Canes Venatici.

This will be one of my final images for the season - astro-darkness is now down to three hours up here. So I collected data over two recent nights, and after throwing away quite a bit due to gusty winds, I ended up with 155 x 2 min subs, so 5.2 hours. Taken with my 14" Meade LX200R and Sony A7s at ISO3200 on the EQ8 mount (Lodestar X2 on a ZWO OAG). This image is cropped as the galaxy is quite small, maybe a bit too small even for my 3550 mm focal length. I will go for something slightly larger tonight if the sky collaborates.

[MarkAR]

Nice capture, well done.

48 minutes ago, gorann said:

for my 3550 mm focal length

I'm jealous.

[gorann]

Thanks Mark!

At least it is a rather unusual and rarely imaged object but I find the image a bit on the fuzzy side so I will go for something bigger and hopefully get a more detailed image tonight.

[MarkAR]

Or stick a Powermate on it.