These R-band images show the members of galaxy pair CPG 434, from Karachentsev's catalog of galaxy pairs. The image was obtained with the 1.1-m Hall telescope of Lowell Observatory. This pair is also catalogued as NGC 5740/5746, lying 18 arc minutes apart and 80 million light-years away in extreme eastern Virgo near the boundary woith Serpens (and the globular cluster M5). These 12th-magnitude galaxies are too far apart to show significant asymmetries due to tidal interaction. Stacking the images vertically puts them in very roughly the proper relative locations; the southern galaxy, NGC 5740, is actually farther south and west (in about the 5 o'clock direction on the celestial sphere) than it appears here, relative to NGC 5746. The images are displayed using a logarithmic intensity transformation, each spanning an area about 7.3 by 7.2 arcminutes. North is up and east to the left.
NGC 5746 is a classic near-edge-on spiral. It is a good case for demonstrating the evidence for dark matter from its rotation curve.
Last changes: July 2002 © 2002