Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Leo (Leo)  ·  Contains:  HD98172  ·  HD98354  ·  HD98388  ·  HD98644  ·  IC 2694  ·  IC 2704  ·  IC 2708  ·  IC 2745  ·  IC 2752  ·  IC 2754  ·  IC 2761  ·  IC 2762  ·  IC 2765  ·  IC 2769  ·  Leo Triplet  ·  M 65  ·  M 66  ·  NGC 3623  ·  NGC 3627  ·  NGC 3628
The Leo Triplet — NGC 3623, NGC 3627, NGC 3628, Mario Wunderlich
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The Leo Triplet — NGC 3623, NGC 3627, NGC 3628

The Leo Triplet — NGC 3623, NGC 3627, NGC 3628, Mario Wunderlich
Powered byPixInsight

The Leo Triplet — NGC 3623, NGC 3627, NGC 3628

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Description

The Leo Triplet is located in the Leo constellation, and it's one of the most famous galaxy groups. It was discovered in the 1780s and ever since then it's been a popular target for visual and photographic astronomy.

The group consists of the galaxies Messier 65 (NGC 3623), Messier 66 (NGC 3627) and NGC 3628 (also known as the "Hamburger" galaxy). The Leo Triplet lies at an approximate distance of 35 million light years from Earth.

Their gravity is so strong, that these three galaxies can't escape each other, and are forever bound together in a gravitational dance. In fact, NGC 3628 and Messier 66 collided and went through each other over a billion years ago, hence their deformed spiral shapes. They'll continue being drawn together until eventually they'll merge to form a super-massive galaxy.

While M65 and M66 where discovered by Charles Messier in 1780, NGC 3628 was discovered by William Herschel in 1784, hence why it doesn't have a "Messier" designation.

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