A ringed barred spiral and its companion, turning together in the darkness of Eridanus.
NGC 1241 is a ringed barred spiral galaxy classified as (R)SB(rs)b), showing a well-defined central bar surrounded by a faint resonance ring and tightly wound blue spiral arms. The galaxy harbors a circumnuclear star-forming ring inside the bar, encircling an active nucleus classified as Seyfert Type 2, where a partially obscured supermassive black hole is accreting and emitting ionized radiation across optical wavelengths.
Its companion, NGC 1242, is an irregular spiral classified SAB(s)m pec. The galaxy displays a noticeably asymmetric arm structure, with one arm more extended than the other—a signature of weak tidal interaction with NGC 1241. Despite this influence, the main bar and inner ring of NGC 1241 remain intact, while NGC 1242 has been more noticeably disturbed.
The pair lies approximately 186 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. At this distance, NGC 1241 spans about 63,000 light-years, similar in size to the Milky Way. In this frame, the galaxy duo occupies roughly 3.8 × 2.8 arcminutes, with the extended halo of NGC 1241 stretching farther outward into faint darkness. The spiral arms of NGC 1241 are dotted with small blue star-forming regions driven by gas flowing along the bar and piling up along the ring.
Several reddish,faint galaxies in the background hint at galaxy clusters far beyond this interacting pair, adding cosmological depth to the scene.
Imaged in LRGB on my Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image acquisition and processing: Mike Selby