NGC 3628: Sideways Spiral Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright:
Data:
Paul Gardner,
Great Basin Observatory;
Processing:
Rogelio Bernal Andreo
(DeepSkyColors.com)
What do spiral galaxies look like sideways?
Featured is a sharp telescopic view of a magnificent edge-on spiral
galaxy NGC
3628, a puffy
galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes.
Of course, this
deep galactic portrait puts some astronomers
in mind of its popular moniker,
The Hamburger Galaxy.
The tantalizing island
universe
is about 100,000 light-years across and 35 million
light-years away in the northern springtime
constellation Leo.
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 the extended flare and
warp of this spiral's disk.