The Deer Lick Group is a chance visual grouping of galaxies located in the Pegasus constellation. The large spiral galaxy, NGC 7331 is very similar to the Andromeda galaxy in appearance and is located approximately 45 million light-years away. Beneath it in this image are four much more distant and visually tiny galaxies at about 350 million light-years away. These four are visually located near NGC 7331 but are not gravitationally associated. The four are together referred to as “The Fleas”. This grouping was discovered by William Herschel in 1784, though the name Deer Lick comes from the Deer Lick Gap in North Carolina where the story says an astronomer named Tomm Lorenzin had a particularly clear view of them one night…
Up in the far-right corner is another grouping of galaxies called Stephan’s Quintet. Only four of the five are gravitationally interacting and are the very first compact galaxy group ever discovered. The bluish and brightest member of the quintet is the fifth galaxy and is the one not interacting.
It is worth taking some time to zoom into the full image as there are a myriad of other tiny galaxies that can be discovered in the background.
This photograph was imaged using the Battle Point Observatory’s new rooftop telescope system by member Cole Rees and processed by member Chuck Wraith.
