NGC 3115 - Spindle Galaxy
NGC 3115 is a galaxy in the constellation Sextant, which was discovered by F.W. Herschel in February 1787. It is around 32 million
light-years away from us and has an apparent brightness of 9.1mag and an elongation of 7x3'.
The galaxy is classified as Hubble Type S0 and thus belongs to the group of lenticular galaxies. With a diameter of around 60,000
light-years, it is significantly smaller than our Milky Way. However, it does not have spiral arms like the Milky Way, but only a disk
and a bulge (similar to Messier 104). There is also hardly any gas present in the galaxy, so that almost no new stars are formed in NGC
3115. The total mass is given as 300 to 400 billion solar masses.
In the center there is a supermassive black hole (SMBH) with a mass of 2 billion solar masses. This makes it the closest black hole of
this size to us. It is surrounded by a region about 700 light-years in diameter, which is filled with gas that is getting hotter and hotter
towards the center. It is even possible that NGC 3115 was once a quasar (QSO).
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NGC 3115 is a wonderful sight in my 20" telescope under a dark sky.
At a magnification of 270x you can see a long needle of light with an elongation of 8:1 with a bright stellar core in its center.
A dust band is not visible. On closer inspection, a very faint halo can also be seen.
