ARP 273 - Galactic Dance in the Depths of Space

Captured from my backyard observatory (SkyShed POD-S) here in the Northern Adirondacks of Upstate New York. To me, this is one of the most fascinating interacting galaxy pairs in the sky.

This system, known as Arp 273, sits about 300 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. The larger galaxy (UGC 1810) has been pulled into a dramatic, rose-like spiral by the gravitational influence of its smaller companion (UGC 1813). The result is an incredible cosmic distortion — two galaxies literally twisting and stretching each other as they interact on a scale far beyond our imagination.

Celestron 11” EdgeHD SCT, ZWO ASI2600mc-pro camera on an iOptron CEM70 mount.

63 x 5 minute guided exposed images captured with NINA, calibrated and stacked in Astro Pixel Processor and processed in PixInSight.