good4usoul (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Main: 8700 km/s Companion 17,000 km/sHill type galaxy/quasar 1 72,000 km/sHill type galaxy/quasar 2 117,000 km/sHow do we know we aren't seeing an overlap of four galaxies that aren't close to each other at all, but are one in front of another?

good4usoul (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Has it occurred to anybody that the two systems collided? They look adjacent and connected, but what if it is exactly what it looks like? The smaller one hit the bigger one a long time ago and the filament in between is extending away from us from the Big one to the companion galaxy? Are you able to get measures on the Cepheids or something in the two galaxies to see that they are actually at the same distance?