Astronomy Picture of the Day -- The Tidal Tail of NGC 3628

NASA ^ | July 06, 2012 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: A mere 30 million light-years away, large spiral galaxy NGC 3628 (center left) shares its neighborhood in the local Universe with two other large spirals, in a magnificent grouping otherwise known as the Leo Triplet. In fact, fellow trio member M65 is near the center right edge of this deep cosmic group portrait, with M66 just above it and to the left. But, perhaps most intriguing is the spectacular tail stretching up and to the left for about 300,000 light-years from NGC 3628's warped, edge-on disk. Know as a tidal tail, the structure has been drawn out of the galaxy by gravitational tides during brief but violent past interactions with its large neighbors. Not often imaged so distinctly, the tidal tail is composed of young bluish star clusters and star-forming regions.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit & Copyright: Thomas V. Davis (tvdavisastropix.com)]

[SunkenCiv]

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[null and void]

It’s upside down...

[UCANSEE2]

and backwards.

[Boogieman]

Astronomer Halton Arp used this galaxy for one of his examples to support his theory that nearby galaxies are ejecting higher redshift quasars. It is entry Arp 317 in his “Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies”.

http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0206411.pdf

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Boogieman, I’ll add the keyword.

[blueunicorn6]

Maybe we could get that space tractor thing to cut my neighbor’s grass. I wonder if it is one of those that can cut real close around a tree?

[Conan the Librarian]

“the Leo Triplet”

Nope Nope, it’s the ‘Trio in Leo’.

Astronomers are such nerds.

They are laying sideways.