This image shows two separate collections of galaxies taken on March 01, 2014. The most prominent galaxy is NGC 3718 (Arp 214). NGC 3718 is classified as a peculiar barred spiral galaxy. The galaxy's spiral arms are quite warped due to the gravitational interaction with its close neighbor below, NGC 3729. NGC 3718 features a prominent, dark spiral dust lane wrapping around its nucleus. The core of the galaxy probably contains a supermassive black hole. br/br/ The smaller companion galaxy, NGC 3729, is a barred spiral as well. It lies quite close (in astronomical terms) to NGC 3718 at about 150,000 light years. For comparison, our Milky Way Galaxy's close neighbor - M31, the Andromeda Galaxy - is about 2 1/2 million light years from us. br/br/ The group of 5 galaxies to the right of NGC 3729 is Hickson 56 (aka Arp 322). The Hickson 56 group is a background group of galaxies that is 400 million light years from us - 8 times farther than the foreground group of NGC 3718 and 3729. 4 of the 5 galaxies appear to be interacting and linked together. The 5th galaxy (Hickson 56A) is an edge on spiral galaxy.