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A huge elliptical galaxy called NGC 3640 has actually swallowed up a number of smaller sized galaxies in the past, according to an analysis of information from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at Paranal Observatory in Chile.
This VST image reveals 2 elliptical galaxies: NGC 3640 and NGC 3641. Image credit: ESO/ INAF/ Mirabile et al/ Ragusa et al
NGC 3640 lives some 88 million light-years far from Earth in the constellation of Leo.
Understood as LEDA 34778 and UGC 6368, the galaxy has a size of 90,000 light-years.
It was found on February 23, 1784 by the German-British astronomer William Herschel.
NGC 3640 belongs to a dynamically young group made up of a minimum of 8 galaxies.
It likewise forms an engaging couple with a fainter elliptical galaxy called NGC 3641.
“Throughout their exceptionally long life time, galaxies alter,” Dr. Marco Mirabile from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics and coworkers stated in a declaration.
“As they skyrocket through area, they might take gas and stars from other galaxies, or perhaps swallow up and combine with them.”
“After these occasions, galaxies can end up being distorted, as exhibited by the misshaped NGC 3640 and the scattered light around it.”
“The galaxy is then entrusted to ‘scars’ that mean a violent past, which astronomers can utilize to understand its past and present history.”
To trace the history behind the NGC 3640-NGC 3641 set, Dr. Mirabile and co-authors utilized the VST to evaluate their globular clusters, round and compact aggregations of stars bound by gravity.
These typically consist of a few of the very first stars produced within a galaxy and can for that reason function as fossil markers, exposing the galaxy’s history, even after combining occasions.
“The outcomes validate that NGC 3640 has actually swallowed up other galaxies before, a threatening indication for the smaller sized NGC 3641,” the astronomer stated.
“Yet, this little stellar underdog reveals an unique absence of distortions in its shape or the globular clusters within.”
“This recommends that their interaction, while quickly, is not occurring close enough for NGC 3640 to posture a danger. NGC 3641 may be safe– in the meantime.”
The findings appear in the journal Astronomy & & Astrophysics
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Marco Mirabile et al2024. VEGAS-SSS: Tracing globular cluster populations in the engaging NGC 3640 galaxy group. A&A 691, A104; doi: 10.1051/ 0004-6361/2024 51273
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