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Session 82 - Spirals & Irregulars.
Display session, Friday, January 09
Exhibit Hall,
We use deep CCD images in B and I from the Burrell Schmidt Telescope at KPNO to study the 80 kiloparsec-long stellar plume that extends from the galaxy NGC 3628. The plume is the result of tidal interactions with the other Leo Triplet galaxies, NGC 3627 and NGC 3623. We find the plume contains star-forming clumps that are located near peaks in the high-resolution HI map of the region. Comparison of our colors and luminosities for these regions with the results of star cluster evolution models suggests clump ages near 10^8 years and masses of around 10^6 M_o. This corresponds to a star formation efficiency of around 3% over the entire plume.
