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NGC 3311
NGC 3311 is a super-giant elliptical galaxy (a type-cD galaxy) located about 190 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. The galaxy was discovered by astronomer John Herschel on March 30, 1835. NGC 3311 is the brightest member of the Hydra Cluster and forms a pair with NGC 3309 which along with NGC 3311, dominate the central region of the Hydra Cluster.
NGC 3311 is surrounded by a rich and extensive globular cluster system rivaling that of Messier 87 in the Virgo Cluster.
The central region of NGC 3311 is obscured by a dust cloud with an estimated diameter of 1,700 ly (0.53 kpc). It has an amorphous and complex structure and its small size and disturbed morphology suggests that the cloud originated from a merger event with another galaxy that occurred within the past 10 million years. Oddly though, there are no shells or isophote distortions in the outer regions of NGC 3311 that would have been the result of such a recent merger. Other scenarios for the origin of the dust cloud are by a cooling flow or by galactic wind failure.
The total estimated mass of the dust cloud is 4,600 solar masses (4.6×104 M☉).
In NGC 3311, it has been detected that there is an excess blue population in the central region of the galaxy. The spectrum of the galaxy appears to resemble that of an H II region. This suggests that the excess blue population represents an ongoing formation of young bright stars.
The outer halo of NGC 3311 appears to have formed from the accretion and mergers of massive satellite galaxies in vicinity of the galaxy. The halo is made up of intra-cluster stars with a dominant part of these stars coming from the outskirts of bright early-type galaxies and the rest originating from dwarf galaxies. However, the build-up of its extended halo is still ongoing due to the infall of a group of 14 dwarf galaxies including the galaxies HCC 026 and HCC 007 that are currently being tidally disputed and adding their stars to the outer halo. In contrast, the inner galaxy formed from the mergers of gas-rich lumps reminiscent of the first phase of galaxy formation.
The stars in the central region of NGC 3311 and in the halo are very old, with ages of over 10 Gyrs. However the stars in the central galaxy have a higher metallicity than the halo suggesting the stars in the stars in the central galaxy formed in a rapid but short period of star formation that occurred early on though a gas-rich dissipative collapse while the stars in halo formed in smaller accreted satellite galaxies with more extended star formation.
NGC 3311 contains an off centered-envelope that was first detected by Arnaboldi et al. The off centered-envelope has a higher metallicity than the outer halo and is located close to the infalling group of dwarf galaxies.
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NGC 3311
NGC 3311 is a super-giant elliptical galaxy (a type-cD galaxy) located about 190 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. The galaxy was discovered by astronomer John Herschel on March 30, 1835. NGC 3311 is the brightest member of the Hydra Cluster and forms a pair with NGC 3309 which along with NGC 3311, dominate the central region of the Hydra Cluster.
NGC 3311 is surrounded by a rich and extensive globular cluster system rivaling that of Messier 87 in the Virgo Cluster.
The central region of NGC 3311 is obscured by a dust cloud with an estimated diameter of 1,700 ly (0.53 kpc). It has an amorphous and complex structure and its small size and disturbed morphology suggests that the cloud originated from a merger event with another galaxy that occurred within the past 10 million years. Oddly though, there are no shells or isophote distortions in the outer regions of NGC 3311 that would have been the result of such a recent merger. Other scenarios for the origin of the dust cloud are by a cooling flow or by galactic wind failure.
The total estimated mass of the dust cloud is 4,600 solar masses (4.6×104 M☉).
In NGC 3311, it has been detected that there is an excess blue population in the central region of the galaxy. The spectrum of the galaxy appears to resemble that of an H II region. This suggests that the excess blue population represents an ongoing formation of young bright stars.
The outer halo of NGC 3311 appears to have formed from the accretion and mergers of massive satellite galaxies in vicinity of the galaxy. The halo is made up of intra-cluster stars with a dominant part of these stars coming from the outskirts of bright early-type galaxies and the rest originating from dwarf galaxies. However, the build-up of its extended halo is still ongoing due to the infall of a group of 14 dwarf galaxies including the galaxies HCC 026 and HCC 007 that are currently being tidally disputed and adding their stars to the outer halo. In contrast, the inner galaxy formed from the mergers of gas-rich lumps reminiscent of the first phase of galaxy formation.
The stars in the central region of NGC 3311 and in the halo are very old, with ages of over 10 Gyrs. However the stars in the central galaxy have a higher metallicity than the halo suggesting the stars in the stars in the central galaxy formed in a rapid but short period of star formation that occurred early on though a gas-rich dissipative collapse while the stars in halo formed in smaller accreted satellite galaxies with more extended star formation.
NGC 3311 contains an off centered-envelope that was first detected by Arnaboldi et al. The off centered-envelope has a higher metallicity than the outer halo and is located close to the infalling group of dwarf galaxies.