Arp 148 is more commonly known as Mayall's Object. It is a pair of
colliding galaxies about a half billion light years away. One galaxy
has "just" pierced the heart of another and is bursting out the other
side. This is best seen in the rather famous Hubble image of this pair.
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/i...-large_web.jpg
The Hubble site covers this guy very nicely. Here is what it has to say
about this object.
"Arp 148 is the staggering aftermath of an encounter between two
galaxies, resulting in a ring-shaped galaxy and a long-tailed companion.
The collision between the two parent galaxies produced a shockwave
effect that first drew matter into the center and then caused it to
propagate outwards in a ring. The elongated companion perpendicular to
the ring suggests that Arp 148 is a unique snapshot of an ongoing
collision. Infrared observations reveal a strong obscuration region that
appears as a dark dust lane across the nucleus in optical light. Arp 148
is nicknamed Mayall's object and is located in the constellation of Ursa
Major, the Great Bear, approximately 500 million light-years away. This
interacting pair of galaxies is included in Arp's catalog of peculiar
galaxies as number 148."
Arp's photo of it with the 200" Palomar scope shows no more than mine,
maybe less. At least this time seeing was just barely good enough for
me to use 0.5" per pixel when taking my image.
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level...res/arp148.gif
What I believe to have been the core of the "target" galaxy can be seen
as a small yellow area at 5 o'clock inside the newly formed ring.
Massive star formation dominates the ring. The "bullet" galaxy has a
strong resemblance to M82 in the Hubble image. Co-incidence or is this
due to the encounters both have had?
If you look closely you'll find a great many of the faint "stars" in my
image are really distant, anonymous, galaxies.
14" LX200R @ f/10, L=9x10' RGB=3x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
Rick
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Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".