NGC 1532 has always been one of my favorite Galaxies.
Along with the smaller galaxy NGC 1531 this pair of interacting galaxies is located about 55 million light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Eridanus.
NGC 1531 – the small galaxy with a bright core lies just above the center of its companion and is a lenticular dwarf galaxy around 20,000 light-years across.
NGC 1532, the large galaxy is a nearly edge-on, deformed barred spiral galaxy about 180 thousand light-years across. While It may possess several dwarf companion galaxies, it is clearly interacting with NGC 1531.
These two galaxies are gravitationally bound and very close to each other. As a result NGC 1532 became distorted: one of its spiral arms is warped and plumes of dust and gas are visible above its disk. The interaction has also triggered bursts of star formation in both galaxies. This is obvious in NGC 1532 where a whole new generation of massive stars has been born which are visible in the spiral arms.
In addition, some material may have migrated to NGC 1531, which shows an S-shaped dust lane crossing its center. Over time the gravitational interaction of the two galaxies will tear NGC 1531 apart and merge its remains with NGC 1532.
Imaged in LRGB and Hydrogen Alpha on our CDK 1000 (RGB CDK 700) at El Sauce, Obstech, Chile
Image Processing: Mike Selby