Based on recessional velocity of 9110 km/sec, about 400 million light years away. Given that and apparent size of 1.5 by 1.5 arcmin, about 175 thousand light years across.

PGC 8961 and 8970 form an interacting pair of spiral galaxies, also known as Arp 273. Both galaxies are considerably distorted by their interaction, but PGC 8961's spectacular arms and brilliant clouds of hot, bright young stars caused by the interaction are more obvious because it is nearly face-on to our line of sight; while PGC 8970's form is more edge-on, and appears more a chaotic mess than its companion. (In some ways this is similar to the more elegant M81 and more distorted M82, a more widely separated pair far closer to us.) Based on a recessional velocity of 7565 km/sec, PGC 8961 is about 350 million light years away. Given that and its apparent size of 2.2 by 1.4 arcmin, it is about 225 thousand light years across. This makes it more than twice the diameter and about ten times the volume (and most likely, mass) of our Milky Way galaxy.

PGC 8970 and 8961 form an interacting pair of spiral galaxies, also known as Arp 273. Both galaxies are considerably distorted by their interaction, but PGC 8961's spectacular arms and brilliant clouds of hot, bright young stars caused by the interaction are more obvious because it is nearly face-on to our line of sight; while PGC 8970's form is more edge-on, and appears more a chaotic mess than its companion. (In some ways this is similar to the more elegant M81 and more distorted M82, a more widely separated pair far closer to us.) Based on a recessional velocity of 7335 km/sec, PGC 8970 is about 340 million light years away (although a second recessional velocity measurement of 7780 km/sec would put it about 360 million light years away; and regardless of its recessional velocity, its distance must be nearly identical to that of its companion). Given that and its apparent size of 1.5 by 0.4 arcmin, it is about 150 thousand light years across. For images of the pair, see PGC 8961.