NGC 7318 - Stephan's Quintet

Object: Stephan's Quintet
Date: July 22-23-24, 2017 - Location: Denton, TX
Telescope: AT12RC - Camera: ST-10XME - Filters: Astrodon TruBalance LRGB
Exposure: Lum = 180 min. (Binned 1X1) - Red, Green and Blue = 60 min. each (Binned 1X1)
Guided using Innovations Foresight On Axis Guider (ONAG)
Click on the image to view at higher resolution.

Stephan's Quintet ¹ Stephen's Quintet, also designated as Hickson Compact Group 92, and was first observed by Edouard Stephan in 1877. Stephen's Quintet is the first compact group of galaxies ever discovered. As the name implies, the grouping consists of 5 galaxies. This is actually somewhat deceptive as only 4 of the galaxies are gravitationally interacting. The bluish galaxy, NGC 7320, has been determined to be a foreground object approximately 40 million light years distant. The other 4 members of the quintet are approximately 290 million light years from the Earth. Three of the galaxies display major deformations and tidal disruptions. The smaller elliptical galaxy, NGC 7317, does not display significant deformations and has been less affected than the other members of the group.

A labeled image of the group may be viewed here.

¹https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/multimedia/ero/ero_stephan_quintet.html