|
There
are very few galaxies that display the structure that this one
does. This is a "Plume" galaxy, a rare type of spiral
that exhibits the following feature: Small ribs or vanes like
a fan streaming off the inner spiral arms to the outer ones.
They are very fine and delicate as seen here, well resolved along
with a few small pink HII regions and the pastel blues of OB
associations.
NGC4725, the
main central galaxy seen here is a 10.1 magnitude SAB Peculiar
type, rather large at 11 arcminutes in size. Look at the dark
arm gap that winds nearly 180 degrees in the faint outer arm.
That's why this galaxy is classed as peculiar, along with the
plume structure.
As an added
bonus, and one I was pleasantly surprised upon seeing is NGC4712
in the upper right corner. This 13.3 magnitude SA spiral shows
some very interesting details in the arms including a well resolved
spiral nature and OB associations. The HII regions are obviously
sub arcsecond in size and not seen.
Several other
galaxies litter the field. MAC 1250+2525 is actually inside the
lower left arm as a white diffuse patch. It is 17th magnitude
but a diminutive .3 arcminutes in size.
| 
