The brightest galaxies of this group are the merging NGC5718 (typed E-S0) and IC1042 (typed S0),also known as ARP171.Sized only 1.1 to 1.5arc-minutes by magnitudes of 13.6-14.0mag makes them very difficult objects for visual observation,even with bigger telescopes.
The weak shells and countertails are the results of gravitational interaction between these galaxies..
Their real distance is about 400 Mio.light-years.NGC5718 was first seen by William Herschel in 1786,IC1042 by Stefan Javelle in 1891.
position (epoch2000):
RA.: 14h 40m 42,8s
Decl.: +03° 27′ 56″
image data:
LRGB image with L = 26x1200s, RGB = 9x1200s each,a total of 17.7 hours
80cm f/7 AstroOptik Keller corrected cassegrain FLI Proline 16803 Astrodon LRGB GenII filters
Prompt 7 CTIO/UNC Chile,remote controlled
image processing: Bernd Flach-Wilken
here you see these both galaxies in a picture with 97% of the FOV of the CCD-camera.Click here to get a full resolution view.
this is a negative and labeled version of these galaxies: