Extra Galaxies

This image reveals a surprising number of galaxies both near and far toward the constellation Ursa Major. The warped spiral galaxy found near picture center is called NGC 3718. It's spiral arms are twisted and extended. 150 thousand light-years to the right one can see another large spiral galaxy, NGC 3729. The two galaxies are interacting with each other gravitationally, which explains why NGC 3718's arms are twisted and extended. While this galaxy pair lies about 52 million light-years away, the remarkable Hickson Group 56 can also be seen clustered just below NGC 3718, This "Group" consists of five interacting galaxies, and lies 400 million light years away.