NGC 3628: The Hamburger Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Eric Coles and Mel Helm
Explanation: No, hamburgers are not this big. What is pictured 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.
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