Galactic Neighbors in Telescopium: IC 4839 & IC 4836
In the constellation Telescopium, about 190 million light-years away, lies IC 4839, a grand spiral galaxy viewed nearly face-on.
It spans approximately 1.8 arcminutes on the sky—an estimated 100,000 light-years across—with sweeping spiral arms and rich dust lanes adding to its graceful structure.
Just above it is IC 4836, an irregular, star-forming galaxy glowing with blue and magenta knots. Its apparent size of 1.1 arcminutes translates to a physical span of about 61,000 light-years. Based on its redshift, IC 4836 lies around 193 million light-years away—nearly the same as IC 4839—confirming both galaxies are part of the same galaxy group.
IC 4836’s chaotic morphology and its proximity to both IC 4839 and the edge-on IC 4835 suggest past or ongoing gravitational interactions, although there’s no strong evidence of a direct tidal bridge. Still, their shared environment and similar distances paint a dynamic picture of galactic evolution within a tightly bound group.
Imaged in LRGB on my Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image acquisition and processing: Mike Selby