NGC 3613 is a large elliptical galaxy located about 100 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It was discovered by William Herschel on April 8, 1793, during his deep-sky surveys with a powerful telescope he built himself. This galaxy doesn’t have the familiar spiral arms seen in galaxies like the Milky Way. Instead, it has a smooth, rounded shape, typical of elliptical galaxies.
Elliptical galaxies like NGC 3613 are mostly made up of older, redder stars and have very little gas or dust. That means they don’t have many new stars forming. Picture a bustling city that’s gone quiet over time—NGC 3613 is like that, a once-active place now mostly settled down. Scientists believe this kind of galaxy often forms when two or more galaxies collide and merge. The result is a big, round galaxy with stars orbiting in random directions, rather than in the neat, organized arms of spiral galaxies.
Published: Apr 25, 2025
Total integration: 4h 36m
Integration per filter:
- LP: 4h 36m (138 × 120″)
Equipment:
- Telescope: Celestron NexStar 8SE
- Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
- Mount: Juwei 17
- Filter: Optolong L-Pro 1.25″
- Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight, Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA)
For more information, visit AstroBin:
https://app.astrobin.com/i/wc1du9