Cosmic Duo In Cetus: m77 and NGC 1055

M77 AND NGC 1055 - The face-on view of M77 (left), with its bright nucleus and spiral arms, contrasts nicely with the narrowed, dusty appearance of edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 1055 (right). The pair are dominant members of a small galaxy group about 47 to 60 million light-years away. At that estimated distance, M77 is one of the most remote and largest objects in Messier's catalog and is separated from its neighbor NGC 1055 by at least 500,000 light-years.