Young Elliptical Galaxy NGC 3610 in Ursa Major | Hubble

Young Elliptical Galaxy NGC 3610 in Ursa Major | Hubble

At the center of this image is the elliptical galaxy NGC 3610. Surrounding the galaxy are a wealth of other galaxies of all shapes. There are spiral galaxies, galaxies with a bar in their central regions, distorted galaxies and elliptical galaxies—all visible in the background. In fact, almost every bright dot in this image is a galaxy—the few foreground stars are clearly distinguishable due to the diffraction spikes that overlay their images.

Distance: 70 million light years

NGC 3610 is of course the most prominent object in this image—and a very interesting one. Discovered in 1793 by William Herschel, it was later found that this elliptical galaxy contains a disc. This is very unusual, since discs are one of the main distinguishing features of spiral galaxies. NGC 3610 even hosts a remarkably bright disc.

The reason for the peculiar shape of NGC 3610 stems from its formative history. When galaxies are born, they usually resemble our galaxy, the Milky Way, with flat discs and spiral arms where star formation rates are high and are therefore very bright. An elliptical galaxy is generally a much more disordered object. It results from the merging of two or more disc galaxies. During these violent mergers most of the internal structure of the original galaxies is destroyed. The fact that NGC 3610 still shows a structure in the form of a bright disc implies that it formed only a relatively short time ago. The galaxy’s age has been put at around four billion years. It is an important object for studying the early stages of evolution in elliptical galaxies.

Image Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble & NASA

Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)

Release Date: Nov. 16, 2015

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