This disturbed galaxy’s thin, warped disk betrays a history of past interaction.
The Integral Sign Galaxy (UGC 3697) glows dimly and shows a warped, twisted structure indicative of past interaction with a neighboring galaxy. Credit: Adam Block
The sky is full of really weird stuff. Many of the strangest objects are galaxies — so numerous in the cosmos — that show unusual forms. One of these great objects lies in the constellation Camelopardalis, an area of sky that looks pretty stark. But if you look closely at certain areas in such places in the sky, you can find gems.Â
The Integral Sign Galaxy, cataloged as UGC 3697, is an object originally added to the Uppsala Catalog of galaxies. It is a faint galaxy characterized by a thin, warped disk that betrays a history of past interaction.Â
The Integral Sign of course looks like that mathematical symbol, and is an edge-on spiral with irregular arms. It glows rather dimly at magnitude 13.5 and measures 3.2’ by 0.4’. This object is rather poorly studied, and lies approximately 150 million light-years away.Â
As you might imagine, the galaxy’s warped disk almost certainly resulted from past interaction with a neighboring galaxy, a dwarf called UGC 3714.Â
