NGC 3610 is an
elliptical galaxy
An elliptical galaxy is a type of galaxy with an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth, nearly featureless image. They are one of the three main galaxy morphological classification, classes of galaxy described by Edwin Hubble in his Hub ...
in the
constellation
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
The first constellati ...
Ursa Major
Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation in the Northern Sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear", referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa M ...
.
It was discovered on 8 April 1793 by German-British astronomer
William Herschel
Frederick William Herschel ( ; ; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover ...
.
[ This galaxy is located at a distance of from the ]Milky Way
The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...
,[ and is receding with a galacto-centric ]radial velocity
The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity of a target with respect to an observer is the rate of change of the vector displacement between the two points. It is formulated as the vector projection of the target-observer relative velocity ...
of .[
NGC 3610 is a relatively young elliptical galaxy which has not yet lost its disk.][ indicating a 2:1 ratio between the ]major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
and minor axes of the elliptical profile. This is a candidate merger remnant of intermediate age, with a surviving disk of gas and dusk aligned with the major axis.[ This merger is estimated to have occurred ago. The central part of the disk displays warping,][ and is significantly younger than the remainder of the galaxy.][
The unusual amount of blue light emission of NGC 3610, or B–V in the ]UBV photometric system
__NOTOC__
The UBV photometric system (from ''Ultraviolet, Blue, Visual''), also called the Johnson system (or Johnson-Morgan system), is a photometric system usually employed for classifying stars according to their colors.
It was the first stan ...
, suggests recent star formation
Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space—sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions"—Jeans instability, collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, sta ...
.[ The current estimated star formation rate is ·yr−1.][ There is a population of younger ]globular cluster
A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars that is bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards its center. It can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member stars, all orbiting ...
s orbiting the galaxy that is a likely product of the merger. The surviving population of older, metal
A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
-rich globular clusters suggests that at least one of the progenitor galaxies had a prominent bulge component.[
]
Gallery
NGC 3610 Hubble WikiSky.jpg, NGC 3610 by Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...
NGC3610 - SDSS DR14.jpg, NGC 3610 (SDSS DR14)
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{Ngc40
3610
Ursa Major
Elliptical galaxies
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