This is an image of NGC 3359, a barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major located about 59M light-years away.? The striking central bar is rather curious because it is much younger than the spiral arms ¨C 50M years vs several billion years.? It also appears to be rotating at 2-3x the rate of the surrounding spiral arms.? To the upper left of NGC 3359 is a faint blue dwarf galaxy that was first noticed in a Sloan digital sky survey image.? Dubbed the ¡°Little Cub¡±, it is one of the most pristine dwarf galaxies known in our cosmic neighborhood and is thought to contain the chemical elements forged only a few minutes after the Big Bang.? It still has sufficient gas to support star formation but it is now making its first pass near NGC 3359 which is likely to lead to the stripping of its gas and its eventual demise. The image was captured during 7 nights in April and June, bracketing unexpected May monsoons in New Mexico. Image acquisition was done with a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8 for a final LRGB integration of 16.3 hours.
Thanks for looking,
Bruce W.
