NGC5218 is a disturbed barred spiral galaxy (SBb pec) tethered to the elliptical galaxy NGC5216 (E0 pec) with a nearly linear bridge ~50 kpc. The two galaxies are catalogued as Arp 104 (Arp Atlas of Pecular Galaxies, A Chronicle and Observer’s Guide, J. Kanipe and D. Webb, Willmann Bell, 2006, p 242). It is also referred to as Keenan’s System in TheSkyV6. The bridge extends from NGC5218 through NGC5216 to emerge as a ~14 kpc plume on the far (SW) side of the elliptical. It’s blue color, similar to th bridge, suggests new star formation. NGC5218 is mag 12.3 and is 2.9′ x 1.6′. NGC5216 is mag 13.6 and 2.4′ x 1.8′. The FOV above is 35′ wide and north is toward the upper left corner. Click
here for a link to the Spitzer image of these objects. There is evidence that the extended spirals are not in the same plane as the inner spirals. The small spiral galaxy just right of center near the bottom of the image is PGC2639287, mag 16.6, 0.5′ x 0.3′. A close-up cropped view is shown below:
