Arp 286 is a trio of spiral galaxies, gravitationally interacting, which is causing distortion in the galaxies. The three galaxies are:
NGC 5566, a barred spiral galaxy and the largest of the three; it is approximately 66 million light years from us, and approximately 150,000 light years in diameter
(significantly larger than our Milky Way galaxy, itself a large galaxy).
NGC 5569, an intermediate spiral galaxy, the roundish galaxy just to the right of NGC 5566; it is thought to be about 66 million light years away, and approximately
35,000 light years in diameter.
NGC 5560, a distorted spiral galaxy, the long, wiggly galaxy below NGC 5566, seen almost edge-on from earth; it is thought to be about 66 million light years away,
and approximately 75,00 light years in diameter.
The photons that my camera captured from these far-away galaxies started their journey to me about the same time that the asteroid stuck the earth, wiping out most life
on earth, including and especially the non-winged dinosaurs.
It is thought the three galaxies eventually (in hundreds of millions of years from now) will merge into a single, giant elliptical galaxy. The entire field of the
uncropped version of the photo is about the same width as a full moon.
Technical Information:
LRGB: 840:180:180:220 (a total of over 30 hours of light-frame exposure time); here's a chart showing the various subexposures I used in the image:
Hydrogen Alpha: I took 30 twenty-minute images using an Ha filter, but it added nothing, so I did not use them in the final image.
Luminance: 30 thirty-minute and 20 three-minute
Red: 12 fifteen-minute
Green: 14 fifteen-minute
Blue: 13 twenty-minute
The luminance layer is a HDR blend of the 20-minute images and the three-minute images.
The red channel is made up entirely of the red data.
The green channel is made up entirely of the green data.
The blue channel is made up entirely of the blue data.
Equipment: RC Optical Systems 14.5 inch Ritchey-Chrétien carbon fiber truss telescope, with ion-milled optics and RCOS field flattener, at about f/9, and an
SBIG STX-16803 with internal filter wheel (SBIG filter set), guided by an SBIG STX Guider, all riding on a Bisque Paramount ME German Equatorial Mount.
Image Acquisition/Camera Control: Maxim DL, controlled with ACP Expert/Scheduler, working in concert with TheSky X.
Processing: All images calibrated (darks, bias and sky flats), aligned, and combined in Pixinsight. Color combine in Pixinsight. Some finish work (background neutralization, color
calibration, Noise XTerminater, Blur XTerminator) done in Pixinsight; some finish work (LRGB combination, contrast and saturation adjustment) was done in Photoshop CC.
Location: Data acquired remotely from Sierra Remote Observatories, Auberry, California, USA.
Date: Images taken on many nights during March and April of 2026. Image posted October 11, 2026.
Date: Image scale of full-resolution image: 0.56 arcseconds per pixel.
Seeing: Variable, but generally ok.
CCD Chip temperature: -25C
Copyright 2026 Mark de Regt
