NGC3628 · Hamburger Galaxy
| Chinese name | 汉堡星系 |
|---|---|
| Type | Galaxy |
| Constellation | Leo |
| RA | 11h20m |
| Dec | +13° |
| Apparent magnitude | 9.5ᵐ |
| Hemisphere | Both hemispheres |
| Best season | Spring |
| Difficulty | Hard |
| Focal length | 长焦 1000mm+ |
About
The Hamburger Galaxy lies about 35 million light-years away in Leo, the third member of the Leo Triplet alongside M65 and M66. It is named for its fully edge-on disk crossed by a thick, slightly bulging central dust lane, resembling a layered hamburger. It trails a faint stellar stream roughly 300,000 light-years long, drawn out by tidal interaction with its neighbors and extending from one end of the disk. This spectacular tidal tail is direct evidence of gravitational disturbance between galaxies. At magnitude 9.5, deep exposures are needed to record the full tail, making it a challenging spring target in Leo.