APOD- Extra Galaxies

Near Ursa Major, several galaxies have been photographed. One in particular, NGC3718, is a spiral galaxy also known as Arp 214, and notable for its distinctive twisting and spiralling arms. The strange appearence of the galaxy is likely due to the gravitational interaction with a fairly nearby galaxy, NGC3729, a mere 150,000 light-years away. The pair are about 52 million light-years away from our galax. Another compact group of galaxies known as a Hickson group, Hickson group 56, is visible in the photo just underneath NGC3718. However, Hickson 56 is actually over 400 million light-years away, and consists of about 5 full-sized galaxies.