NGC-3718 is an unusual spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Ursa Major, just SE of the star Gamma
Ursa Majoris at the SW corner of the bowl of the Big Dipper. NGC-3718 is also known as Arp 214, due to its gravitational interaction with neighboring galaxy NGC-3729, which has severely distorted it into an S-shape.
NGC-3718 is thought to be either a lenticular or a type SO spiral galaxy with a longitudinal dust lane, which is also distorted by this interaction. NGC-3718 lies at a distance of 56 million light years from Earth. Also visible in this image, just south of 3718, is the unusual galaxy group Hickson 56, which consists of 5 galaxies that lie at a distance of over 300 million light years from Earth.
This image, acquired on May 21, 2017, is a 1 hour 36 minute integration of 6 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/2, using the HyperStar III imaging system and the Starlight Express SXVR-H694C color CCD camera, operating at -10 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.