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NGC 3628  The Hamburger in Leo

'Special orders don't upset us!'  Along with M65 and M66, NGC 3628 comprises The Leo Trio.  'The Hamburger' is the faintest of the group, enough to have escaped Messier's small telescope. This beautiful, edge-on galaxy was discovered later on April 8, 1784 by William Herschel who cataloged it as H V.8. A conspicuous lane of dust clouds forms a broad equatorial band which obscures the galaxy's bright central bulge and hides most of the bright young stars in its spiral arms. The dust band is deformed in the outer regions due to gravitational interaction with its two bright neighbors.