The interacting spiral-galaxy pair IC 4584/5 in Triangulum Australe, shown from a red-light exposure with an RCA CCD in the EFOSC system at the 3.6-meter telescope of the European Southern Observatory on Cerro La Silla, Chile. North is at the top and east to the left, for direct comparison with a chart or eyepiece view. The image uses a logarithmic intensity transformation to preserve information across a wide dynamic range. The field is 3.5 x 5.8 arcminutes.
The northern galaxy (IC 4584) shows clear evidence of tidal distortion, in the form of a strong two-sided stretch to the spiral pattern and what looks like warping of the disk toward the southern galaxy, which appears still unscathed. The field wouldn't look so busy if we didn't see these at 11 degrees from the galactic plane...
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keel@bildad.astr.ua.edu Last changes: August 1997