Imagine That

On May 29, 2009 a “picture-perfect” disk galaxy was discovered. The galaxy is 22 million light years away in the constellation Hydra the Water Snake. The spiral galaxy, named NGC 3621, has a “flat pancake shape” and no bulge in the center of the spiral; this indicates that the galaxy hasn’t come into contact with any other galaxies. The contact with another galaxy would disturb the thin layer of stars and create a bulge in the middle. These types of galaxies are actually fairly common. This galaxy is interesting to astronomers because they can study it and learn more about stellar nurseries “and pulsating stars called Cepheid variables, which astronomers use as distance markers in the universe.” It was discovered that there is at least 69 Cepheid variables in this galaxy.
I think this galaxy is important because astronomers can study it and maybe someday they will discover something really interesting or important. I also find it interesting that it is a perfectly thin galaxy and hasn’t collided or combined with any other galaxies, at least so we think.


variable stars: measure of brightness changes over time