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Credit: Russell Croman
Explanation:
Dark dust lanes cutting across the middle of this gorgeous
island universe strongly hint that
NGC 3628 is a spiral galaxy
seen sideways.
About 35 million light-years away in the
northern springtime
constellation
Leo, NGC 3628 also
bears the distinction of being the only member of the well known
Leo
triplet of galaxies not in Charles
Messier's famous catalog.
Otherwise similar in size to our
Milky Way galaxy, the disk of
NGC 3628 is clearly seen to fan out near the galaxy's
edge.
A faint arm of material also extends up and to the left in
this deep
view of the region.
The distorted shape and
tidal tail suggest that
NGC 3628
is interacting gravitationally with the other spiral galaxies in
the Leo triplet,
M66 and M65.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spiral galaxy - edge-on galaxy
Publications with words: spiral galaxy - edge-on galaxy
See also: