Not sure how to classify this
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by
NotThatGuy
The central object appears to have two cores, although I suppose it could be a single core partially obscured by a dust lane or simply two overlapping objects. I can't tell if the faint area to its upper left is part of the same object or something else, maybe something far in the background. I don't see any obvious signs of interaction with the galaxy to the left, since it's dimmer and appears to be a symmetrical disc. I'm assuming the blob to the lower right, while its shape is a little less clear, is likewise unconnected.
So it's yet another object I wish I could see with perfect clarity - a description which fits just about everything that comes up here!
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by
JeanTate
It's a relatively poor quality image, and is zoomed in perhaps a bit too much. The bluish galaxy (bottom right) may be foreground to the rest, or it may be part of the compact group (which most of the others seem to belong). None of the objects has a spectroscopically determined redshift, so that's not much help. My judgement? The purple-blue stuff, in the central object, is a huge starburst, caused by a major merger, which produces the 'spray' towards the top-left (a tidal tail). There also seems to be some general, low-surface brightness 'haze' surrounding this, which may also be produced by the merger. The colors are not so clear, but in the SDSS image they seem to be consistent with a z of ~0.1 to 0.2 (except for the small galaxy right at the bottom-right; that's more likely to be ~0.3)
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