NGC 7582, NGC 7590, NGC 7599 & NGC 7552

Grus Quartet, Barred Spiral & Spiral Galaxies, Grus

December 2023. Observatorio El Sauce, Chile

NGC 7582, 7590 and 7599 are an interacting group of galaxies situated 70 million light years away in the constellation of Grus and seen towards bottom-right in this image. NGC 7552 (IC 5294) is a barred spiral galaxy (top-left) and also belongs in this NGC 7582 group. These four galaxies are known as the Grus Quartet. A large tidal extension of H I reaches from NGC 7582 to NGC 7552, which is indicative of interactions between the group members, yet NGC 7552 does not have highly disturbed morphology.
NGC 7582 is the brightest galaxy of this quartet. It is of interest as it exhibits the characteristics of both a starburst and a Seyfert II spiral galaxy. The starburst activity is quite intense but is localized to several regions. In 1996 a study indicated that NGC 7582 appears to have two rather than a single nuclei indicating a merger with another galaxy sometime in the distant past.

Telescope: Planewave CDK17 (FR) f4.5
Mount: Astro Physics 1600GTO
Camera: QHY16200A/ Integral FW
Guider: Agena Starguide II / ZWO ASI178MM
Filters: Astronomik 36mm LRGB

L: 58×10 mins = 580 mins, R: 20×10 mins = 200 mins, G: 24×10 mins = 240 mins, B: 24×10 mins = 240 mins

Total Imaging Time: 21h 00m

Data Imaged remotely on 10 nights during November & December 2023.
Imaged from Observatorio El Sauce, Chile, in partnership with Fred Espenak.
Data acquisition & Processing by David Churchill.