 |
Galaxy in the Constellation Leo
|
|
The image above is optimized for a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixel. For 1200 pixel screens and above, view here.
NGC 3628 is the faintest and most difficult of the famous Leo Triplet galaxy group, just faint enough to have escaped Messier's small telescopes (although it may be that his later instruments might have shown it, if he had ever looked at this place under very good conditions). Thus its discovery was left to William Herschel who cataloged it as H V.8 following its discovery on April 8, 1784.
NGC 3628 is seen edge-on. A conspicuous band of dark dust clouds form a broad equatorial band, which obscures the galaxy's bright central region, and hides most of the bright young stars in its spiral arms. The dust band, or belt, is obviously distorted and deformed in the outer regions of the galaxy. The reason for this deformation is evidently the gravitational interaction with its two bright neighbors, M65 and M66.
NGC 3628 lies at a distance of 35 million light years from Earth, and is approximately 150,000 light years in diameter. It also has a tidal tail of 300,000 light years in length, caused by its gravitational interaction with the galaxies M65 and M66.
Image Information Courtesy of SEDS and NASA
Image Details:
Wade Van Arsdale
Little Rock, AR., USA
May 27th, 2011