NGC 3610

NGC 3610 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major.^[6] It was discovered on 8 April 1793 by German-British astronomer William Herschel.^[7] This galaxy is located at a distance of 106 million light-years (32.5 Mpc) from the Milky Way,^[4] and is receding with a galacto-centric radial velocity of 1,819 km/s.^[3]

NGC 3610
Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 3610, showing its disk
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Ursa Major
Right ascension	11h 18m 25.276s[1]
Declination	+58° 47′ 10.49″[1]
Redshift	0.005694[2]
Heliocentric radial velocity	1,732 km/s[3]
Galactocentric velocity	1,819 km/s[3]
Distance	106 Mly (32.5 Mpc)[4]
Apparent magnitude (B)	11.63[3]
Characteristics
Type	E5:[2]
Mass	1.01×1011 (stellar)[4] M☉
Size	76,800 ly (23,560 pc)[2]
Apparent size (V)	1.460′ × 1.168′[1] (NIR)
Other designations
NGC 3610, UGC 6319, LEDA 34566, PGC 34566[5]

NGC 3610 is a relatively young elliptical galaxy which has not yet lost its disk.^[6] It has a morphological classification of E5,^[8] indicating a 2:1 ratio between the major 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.^[9] This merger is estimated to have occurred 4±2.5 Gyr ago. The central part of the disk displays warping,^[8] and is significantly younger than the remainder of the galaxy.^[8]

The unusual amount of blue light emission of NGC 3610, or B–V in the UBV photometric system, suggests recent star formation.^[9] The current estimated star formation rate is 0.385±0.375 M_☉·yr⁻¹.^[4] There is a population of younger globular clusters orbiting the galaxy that is a likely product of the merger. The surviving population of older, metal-rich globular clusters suggests that at least one of the progenitor galaxies had a prominent bulge component.^[9]

Gallery

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  NGC 3610 by Hubble Space Telescope
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  NGC 3610 (SDSS DR14)