UGC 3697 AKA "Integral Sign Galaxy"

Camelopardalis

RA
07 11 22
DEC
+71 50 11

MAG 13.5

Type Sd Pec

UGC 3697 is a unique and rare type Super Thin galaxy with a strange stellar warp. I have been fascinated by it since I first learned about it many years ago.

What has caused this galaxy to be twisted in this stage shape? It was long thought that the 12.7 Mag UGC 3714 that is South East of UGC 3697 was the cause. At 127,000 LY away it was thought to have had a close encounter with the Integral Sign galaxy in the past, but recently astronomers using the VLA have mapped the HI in UGC 3697and now think that the twist in UGC 3697 is caused by a minor interaction with a dwarf galaxy. In the Image below from the VLA you can see on the South East side of UGC 3697 the faint core of the dwarf galaxy that has been striped by UGC 3697.

ugc3697fullcolor_lo.jpg

They say that if it had interacted with UGC 3714 it could not have kept such a thin appearance it would have been more pulled apart and distorted. Also in a few million years it will go back to a normal flat shape that the twist is just a transit event.

ugc3697 Block.jpg

Be sure to check out this strange unique galaxy next time you are out while you can the twist will be gone in a few million years.

"GIVE IT A GO AND LET US KNOW"

GOOD LUCK AND GREAT VIEWING!