NGC 3109

NGC 3109 is classified as a Magellanic type irregular galaxy around 4.5 million light years from Earth, but it may actually be a small spiral galaxy. If it is a spiral galaxy, it would be the smallest in the Local Group. NGC 3109 has a mass of about 2.3×10 ^9 times the mass of our Sun, of which 20% is in the form of neutral hydrogen. The galaxy is oriented edge-on from our point of view, and but may contain a disk and a halo. The disk appears to be composed of stars of all ages, whereas the halo contains only very old and metal-poor stars. There is no sign of a galactic nucleus.

From measurements of the neutral atomic hydrogen in the galaxy, it has been found that the disk of NGC 3109 is warped. The warp has the same radial velocity as gas in the Antlia Dwarf galaxy, Astronomers believe that the two galaxies had a close encounter around one billion years ago.

Imaged in LRGB on our Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.

Image Processing: Mark Hanson.  Data: Mike Selby

Also other versions with data from from El Sauce, Chile 17” Planewave CDK

Here are 3 versions, Newest at the top.