NGC 3628 - the Hamburger Galaxy in Leo, the Lion

NGC 3628, aka the Hamburger Galaxy, is located in the constellation, Leo, the Lion and is part of the galaxy collection known as the Leo Triplet.  The Triplet is a collection of 3 galaxies that appear close together from our perspective on Earth.  I shot this galaxy a few weeks ago on my small, 92mm telescope (FL 505mm).  Last night, I shot it again on the Westport Observatory's 14" Celestron EdgeHD - which has a 14" mirror (355.6mm) and a native 3910mm focal length. 

From Wikipedia: 
NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger Galaxy[3] or Sarah's Galaxy,[4][5][6][7][8] is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. It has an approximately 300,000 light-years long tidal tail. Along with M65 and M66, NGC 3628 forms the Leo Triplet, a small group of galaxies. Its most conspicuous feature is the broad and obscuring band of dust located along the outer edge of its spiral arms, effectively transecting the galaxy to the view from Earth.

Due to the presence of an x-shaped bulge,[9] visible in multiple wavelengths, it has been argued that NGC 3628 is instead a barred spiral galaxy with the bar seen end-on.[10] Simulations have shown that bars often form in disk galaxies during interactions and mergers, and NGC 3628 is known to be interacting with its two large neighbors.

Date: 2023-03-30
Location: Westport Astronomical Society, Westport, CT

Lights: 36 @ 180s, no filter, ISO 1600
Flats: 30
Flat Darks: 30
Darks: 30
Bias.  110

Camera: Nikon D750a 
Telescope: 14" Celstron EdgeHD SCT, no reducer, 3910mm FL
Guiding Scope: 102mm refractor
Filters: None
Mount: Astrophysics 1200 GTO
Software Guiding: PHD2
Software - Telescope Control: The Sky
Software - Integration - PixInsight
Software - Finishing: Photoshop CC, NIK Tools Silver Efex 3.0, 
Software - Blur xTerminator, Star xTerminator, Noise xTerminator

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#ursamajor
#hamburgergalaxy
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#nikond750
#astrophotography
#astrophotographer
#westportobservatory
#westportastronomicalsociety 
#luminantpix