NGC 3521 is a flocculent spiral galaxy located around 26 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Leo. It has a morphological classification of SAB(rs)bc, which indicates that it is a spiral galaxy with a trace of a bar structure (SAB), a weak inner ring (rs), and moderate to loosely wound arm structure (bc). The bar structure is difficult to discern, both because it has a low ellipticity and the galaxy is at a high inclination of 72.7° to the line of sight. The relatively bright bulge is nearly 3/4 the size of the bar, which may indicate the former is quite massive. The nucleus of this galaxy is classified as an HII LINER, as there is an H II region at the core and the nucleus forms a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region.

Source: Wikipedia

“For composing it I have used the R+ band from Subaru as luminance enriched, in the galaxy core, with frames from the Hubble Space Telescope (filters: 814nm and 606nm). Ha and SII data are also coming from the HST, 658nm narrow. RGB data from ESO FORS1: filters V, B and I.” (c) R. Colombari

Data: NASA / ESA / NAOJ / ESO

Assembling and processing: R. Colombari

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