This is a picture of the galaxy NGC 3628. It is a galaxy some 35 million light years distant in the springtime constellation of Leo the Lion which astronomers suspect is a spiral galaxy. It is somewhat difficult to determine the structure of the galaxy because, as you can see, we only have a view of the edge. However, dust lanes are seen to cut across the middle of the galaxy, suggesting that it is a spiral galaxy. It is somewhat similar in size to our own Milky Way, but the disk seem to fan out near the edge. To the upper left in the image, a "tidal tail" (long stretch of material reaching out of the galaxy) is visible. This suggests that the galaxy is interacting gravitationally with the other 2 galaxy in the Leo Triplet (a group of 3 galaxies in Leo), M66 and M65.
No comments:
Post a Comment