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| NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Kennicutt (University of Arizona) and the SINGS Team |
NGC 3627 (M66)
This image of spiral galaxy NGC 3627, also known as Messier 66, was captured by the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxy Survey (SINGS) Legacy Project using the telescope's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC).
NGC 3627 is estimated to be 30 million light-years distant and seen towards the constellation Leo. Astronomers suspect that the galaxy's distorted shape is due to its ongoing gravitational interactions with its neighbors Messier 65 and NGC 3628. NGC 3627 is another brilliant example of a barred spiral galaxy, the most common type of disk galaxy in the local Universe. Its blue core and bar-like structure illustrates a concentration of older stars. While the bar seems devoid of star formation, the bar ends are bright red and actively forming stars. A barred spiral offers an exquisite laboratory for star formation because it contains many different environments with varying levels of star-formation activity, e.g., nucleus, rings, bar, the bar ends and spiral arms.
The SINGS image is a four-channel false-color composite, where blue indicates emission at 3.6 microns, green corresponds to 4.5 microns, and red to 5.8 and 8.0 microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) in this picture has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8 micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features.
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| About the Object (1) | | Object name: | NGC 3627, M66, Messier 66 | | Object type: | Spiral galaxy | | Position (J2000): | RA: 11h 20m 15.00s Dec: 12° 59' 30.00" | | Distance: | 30 million light-years | | Constellation: | Leo |
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About the Data
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Spitzer Data
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| Image Credit: | NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Kennicutt (University of Arizona) and the SINGS Team | | Instrument: | IRAC | | Wavelength: | 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8-8.0 (red) microns | | Image scale: | 10.2x10.2 arcmin | | Orientation: | North is 63 deg CCW from up | | Release Date: | 2005/09/15 |
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Observers
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Robert Kennicutt, Principal Investigator (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona)
Lee Armus (Spitzer Science Center, Caltech)
Brent Buckalew (Caltech)
George Bendo (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona)
Daniela Calzetti (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Daniel Dale (University of Wyoming)
Bruce Draine (Princeton University)
Charles Engelbracht (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona)
Karl Gordon (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona)
George Helou (Caltech)
David Hollenbach (NASA Ames Research Center)
Thomas Jarrett (Caltech)
Lisa Kewley (University of Hawaii)
Claus Leitherer (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Aigen Li (University of Missouri-Columbia)
Sangeeta Malhotra (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Helene McLaughlin (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Martin Meyer (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Eric Murphy (Yale University)
Michael Regan (Space Telescope Science Institute)
George Rieke (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona)
Marcia Rieke (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona)
Helene Roussel (Spitzer Science Center, Caltech)
Kartik Sheth (Caltech)
John-David Smith (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona)
Michele D. Thornley (Bucknell University, Space Telescope Science Institute)
Fabian Walter (MPIA Heidelberg) |
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