Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Leo (Leo)  ·  Contains:  M 65  ·  M 66  ·  NGC 3623  ·  NGC 3627  ·  NGC 3628
Leo Triplet (and tidal tail) - LRGB, Steve Milne
Leo Triplet (and tidal tail) - LRGB
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Leo Triplet (and tidal tail) - LRGB

Leo Triplet (and tidal tail) - LRGB, Steve Milne
Leo Triplet (and tidal tail) - LRGB
Powered byPixInsight

Leo Triplet (and tidal tail) - LRGB

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Description

The ‘Leo Triplet’ consists of Messier 65, Messier 66 and NGC 3628 – galaxies located around 30-35 million light years from Earth. Stretching out from NGC 3628 for around 300,000 light years is a ‘tidal tail’ – an elongated region of stars that arises as a result of gravitational interaction between galaxies.

This object was imaged from a remote rig located in Spain that is jointly owned and run with Barry Wilson. Data collection took place between 23 December 2017 and 11 February 2018. The tidal tail proved elusive even with 1200 second Luminance subs. It is clearly very faint and this leads to a decision about the extent to which it should be made apparent in the final image.

Lum: 27 x 1200s

Lum: 30 x 600s

Red: 24 x 600s

Green: 24 x 600s

Blue: 24 x 600s

A total of 26 hours exposure.

Capture: Steve Milne & Barry Wilson

Processing: Steve Milne

Comments

Revisions

    Leo Triplet (and tidal tail) - LRGB, Steve Milne
    Original
  • Final
    Leo Triplet (and tidal tail) - LRGB, Steve Milne
    B

B

Description: Dialled back the tail a little.

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Leo Triplet (and tidal tail) - LRGB, Steve Milne