Researchers study interstellar medium in the galaxy NGC 3665

Using ESA's Herschel telescope a team of Chinese researchers has performed analysis of the interstellar medium in the early-type galaxy NGC 3665. The study offers insights into physical properties of the matter between its star systems. The results were presented January 16 in a paper published on arXiv.org.

Discovered by William Herschel in 1789, NGC 3665 is a lenticular early-type galaxy located some 108 million light years away. However, contrary to typical early-type galaxies, NGC 3665 is abundant in cool gas and has a low star formation rate surface density. Studying gas, dust and other matter in this galaxy, especially in its interstellar medium, could therefore explain the galaxy's low star formation efficiency.

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Credit: Xiao et al., 2018

The 2D bulge-disk decomposition of NGC 3665 with Galfit. Panels from left to right are r-band observed image, model image, and model-subtracted residual image. The black region in residual image shows a dust structure near the galaxy center, which has been masked out before the fitting.

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