NGC 3597

NGC 3597 is a galaxy located approximately 150 million light-years away in the constellation of Crater.^[2][3] It was discovered by John Herschel on March 21, 1835.^[4]

NGC 3597
Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 3597
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Crater
Right ascension	11h 14m 41.97s[1]
Declination	−23° 43′ 39.58″[1]
Redshift	0.011725[1]
Heliocentric radial velocity	3494 km/s[1]
Distance	150,000,000 light-years (46,000,000 pc)
Apparent magnitude (B)	13.62[1]
Characteristics
Type	S0[1]
Notable features	Elliptical galaxy in making
Other designations
FLASH J111441.93-234340, MCG-04-27-005, VVD 11, PGC 34266[1]

The location of NGC 3597 (circled in red)

Characteristics

Close view with HST

NGC 3597 is thought to be the product of the collision of two large galaxies, and it appears to be slowly evolving to become an elliptical galaxy. Because of this, NGC 3597 is interesting to astronomers. Galaxies smashing together pool their available gas and dust, triggering new rounds of star birth. Some of this material ends up in dense pockets initially called proto-globular clusters, dozens of which festoon NGC 3597. These pockets will go on to collapse and form globular clusters, packed tightly full of millions of stars.^[5][6]

See also

• Interacting galaxy