NGC 5679 Group

Arp 274 (NGC 5679C, NGC 5679B and NGC 5679A) as imaged by Hubble Space Telescope

The NGC 5679 group, also known as Arp 274, is a triplet of galaxies, MCG+1-37-36, MCG+1-37-35 and MCG+1-37-34, spanning about 200 000 light-years and at some 400 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.

This image was produced by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, and is a blend of blue, visible, infrared and hydrogen emissions. The central bulges house older, yellowish stars and a bright central cluster of stars.

The left and right galaxies are prolific star nurseries, shown by the bright blue centres of star formation - the young blue stars and pinkish nebulae clearly map out the spiral arms. Interstellar dust is visible in silhouette against the bright background. The two bright stars immediately above the galaxy on the right are actually located much closer, in fact they are in our own galaxy.

The name "Arp 274" derives from being included in an Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies drawn up by Halton Arp in the years from 1962 through 1967 and published by the California Institute of Technology.

The redshifts of the three components of this system are: left 7483kps, central 8654kps, and right 7618kps. By conventional interpretation left and right are of the same order of distance, with the centre component substantially further (17 - 23 Mpc).

Although the galaxies were previously thought to be interacting gravitationally, the newer Hubble image shows little evidence for this. The spiral shapes of the two larger galaxies appear mostly intact, without the distortions typical of interacting galaxies.