* Astronomy

NGC 1232 (also Arp 41, MCG -4-8-32, 2MASX J03094551-2034454, ESO 547-14 and PGC 11819) is a magnitude +10.9 face-on intermediate spiral galaxy located 61 ±8.5 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus.
The nearby apparent companion PGC 11834 (called unofficially NGC 1232a) is probably a satellite of NGC 1232. This galaxy pair was catalogued as Arp 41 in the Atlas peculiar galaxies.
NGC 1232 spans some 200,000 light years across making it almost twice the size of the Milky Way. The galaxy contains a number of open clusters filled with bright, blue stars spread along the spiral arms separated by thick dark bands of interstellar dust.
Rotational velocity measurements of the spiral arms suggest it contains a large component of dark matter.

The galaxy was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel using a 47.5 cm (18.7 inch) f/13 speculum reflector at Datchet, Berkshire, on the 20th October 1784.

NGC 1232 and its satellite are part of the Eridanus cluster of galaxies, along with NGC 1300.
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Right ascension 03h 09m 45.5s, Declination -20° 34' 45.48"