The Leo Triplet is a group of galaxies consisting of M65, M66, and NGC3628 in the lower part of the constellation Leo.
M65 (also NGC3623) is the spiral galaxy just left of center in the image. It was discovered by Messier in 1780 and has very little current star formation. Located approximately 35 million light-years away, It's possible that the galaxy interacted, slightly, with the other two main members of the group.
M66 (also NGC3627) was also discovered by Messier in 1780 and is located about 36 million light-years away. It is the brightest member of the cluster of galaxies in that area of the sky at an apparent magnitude of 8.9. Located just to the left of M65 in the image, it had an encounter with NGC3628 several hundred million years ago resulting is a high concentration of mass in the galactic center.
NGC3628, the Hamburger Galaxy, is the edge-on spiral galaxy in the top left of the image. Also 35 million light-years away, the galaxy was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. The Hamburger galaxy gets its name from the interesting band of dust running along the outer edge of the spiral arms, causing an unusual view from Earth's perspective.
On the right side of the image in the lower center of the frame is NGC3593. The lenticular galaxy is located about 20 million light-years away and is forming new stars at a high rate.
Acquisition:
Imaged on January 28th, February 19th and 25 and March 1st 2017 from Lake St Louis, MO
Integration: 8 hours (LRGB)
Luminance: 24x600s @ 1x1 (240')
R/G/B: 16/16/16 x 300s @ 2x2 (80'/80'/80')
Equipment:
Scope: William Optics GTF 81 5 element refractor (535mm focal length)
Upgraded with Moonlite CF focuser with motor
Imager: QHY9Ms with Olivon OAG and QHYCFW2-s filter wheel
Guidecam: ASI120MM
Filters: Baader LRGB
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G
Processing and Software
Guiding with PHD2
Acquisition with Sequence Generator Pro
Integration and processing with PixInsight 1.8
The Leo Triplet:
https://flic.kr/p/TPfofjAnnotated image:
https://flic.kr/p/SAnB7SAstrobin:
http://astrob.in/291889/0/
Comments