FGC 1253 and IC 696 are a couple of the members of the WBL 334 galaxy
group which is part of the much larger ZwCl 1126.3+0913 galaxy cluster.
NED lists WBL 334 as consisting of 6 members though I find as many as
10 in my image. The Zwicky galaxy cluster is listed as being 73 minutes
across (about 4 times the area of my field, and containing 213 members.
No way that only consists of those about 300 million light-years
distant as NED seems to be saying. There aren't that many galaxies
total under a billion light-years in that area of the sky. I'm a bit
mystified by that count. Seems every galaxy group catalog has a
different name and galaxy count for the group ranging from 5 to 7. I
identify 10 between 280 and 340 million light-years in the annotated
image with two being somewhat questionable.

IC 696 has a somewhat red condensation along with expected blue star
clusters. The slightly orange one is listed in NED as a separate
galaxy. There's no direct spectroscopic measurement of its red shift so
the listed redshift of 300 million light-years is only based on the
other galaxies in the area. It may lie far beyond for all I know. It's
color would indicate it is not a star cluster in the galaxy. IC 2850 is
a rather white galaxy but on the eastern side there's a blue object.
Another elongated blue object running under the core of IC 2850. The
blue object carries its own designation though NED says it is part of IC
2850. I suppose that's possible but the redshift is slightly different
and it seems far too large to be a star cluster in the galaxy. I can't
shake the idea this is two galaxies just starting to interact. NED
however disagrees and they are the expert.

IC 2853 to the upper right has two long faint plumes or drawn out arms.
The northern one turns back after going further north than the bright
field star curving to the west (right). The southern arm seems straight
with no bend. It would appear it has interacted with some other member
of the group to create these elongated arms.

The big galaxy in the upper left corner, NGC 3705, appears so much
larger mainly because it is closer. Assuming a distance of 60,000
light-years it is some 85,000 light-years across. A bit larger than
average for a spiral galaxy. However, flat galaxy FGC 2857 is some
186,000 light-years across. Twice the size of NGC 3705. However face
on IC 696 is 86,000 light-years across, about the same size of NGC 3705.
IC 2853 with its huge plumes is the largest at a tad over 200,000
light-years.

There are three asteroids that wormed their way into the image. Their
details are listed in the annotated image. Two of the three have names.
Asteroid Belkin was discovered by the Russian astronomer L. V.
Zhuravleva in 1982. It's naming citation reads: "Anatoly Pavlovich
Belkin (b. 1953) is a prominent modern Russian painter. His pictures are
shown in famous Russian and Western museums and galleries." Asteroid
Mitchella was discovered in Heidelberg by A. Bohrmann in 1937. Name
Citation of asteroids discovered this long ago are not listed at the
Minor Planet Center as they are protected by the copyright of a book, I
don't have, on early asteroid names. Asteroid 2000 WZ8 was discovered
in late 2000 by W. K. Y. Yeung at Desert Beaver wherever that is.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick
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Prefix is correct. Domain is arvig dot net

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