The Young Elliptical Galaxy NGC 3610

At the center of this image is the elliptical galaxy NGC 3610. Uncharacteristically, the elliptical contains an embedded disk. This is very unusual, as disks are one of the main distinguishing features of a spiral galaxy. The peculiar shape of NGC 3610 stems from its formation history. When galaxies form, they usually resemble our galaxy, the Milky Way, with flat disks and spiral arms where star formation rates are high and which are therefore very bright. An elliptical galaxy is a much more disordered object that results from the merging of two or more disk galaxies. During these violent mergers most of the internal structure of the original galaxies is destroyed. The fact that NGC 3610 still shows some structure in the form of a bright disk implies that it formed only a short time ago. The galaxy's age has been estimated at four billion years and it is an important object for studying the early stages of evolution in elliptical galaxies.