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Credit & Copyright: Wilhelm Michael Kasakow,
Olaf Guillaume
Explanation:
Sharp telescopic views of
NGC 3628
show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes.
Of course,
this portrait
of the magnificent, edge-on spiral galaxy puts some astronomers
in mind of its popular moniker,
the Hamburger Galaxy.
It also reveals a small galaxy nearby (below), likely a satellite of
NGC 3628, and a very faint but extensive
tidal tail.
The drawn out tail stretches for about 300,000
light-years, even beyond the upper left edge of the frame.
NGC 3628 shares its neighborhood in the
local universe with two other large spirals
M65 and
M66 in a grouping
otherwise known as the Leo Triplet.
Gravitational interactions with its
cosmic
neighbors
are likely responsible for creating the tidal tail,
as well as the extended flare and warp of this spiral's disk.
The tantalizing
island universe
itself is about 100,000 light-years across and 35 million light-years
away in the northern springtime constellation Leo.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spiral galaxy
Publications with words: spiral galaxy
See also: