2012 August 22 at 09:44

Flocculent Galaxy in Southern Leo

Located in southern Leo, below the hindleg of the majestic Lion (see finder chart adjacent), lies NGC 3521, a low-surface brightness spiral galaxy first seen by William Herschel, in 1784. Its elongated glow can be picked up binoculars, while a larger telescope reveals a bright oval core set within a dim halo.

NGC 3521 (located some 35 million light years away) is highly inclined to our line of sight, which is a fortunate orientation for showing off its very bright nucleus and dusty character, as the above image by Dale Liebenberg shows. Its patchy irregular structure classifies it as a flocculent galaxy.

In 2011, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope at Paranal in Chile was used to image the galaxy in spectacular detail; see http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1129/ for a close-up view.

The photograph to the right, cropped from the one above, shows two of several dim PGC galaxies in the region.

The brightest star in the frame is 3UC 180-113943 (12.8V). To its lower-right (south-southwest) is PGC 0033536 (16.2B) and near the left edge of the frame lies PGC 0135772 (16.8B).

NGC 3521 imaged by Dale Liebenberg.