This is one of my favorite objects. I tried to get the tidal tail near Hamburger Galaxy by exposure longer. The result was not good from my sky. The background is brighter than I usually set when I try to pull out the details of the tidal tail. Maybe I should add more frames.

C & C are welcome.

CS

Jian Yuan Peng

-- facts --

The Leo Triplet (aka M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies consisting of the spiral galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628 about 35 ~ 36 million light-years away in the constellation Leo.

These three large spiral galaxies can be seen well in a single field of view in small telescopes. Their galactic disks are tilted at different angles when seen from Earth. NGC 3628 appears edge-on, while M65 and M66 are inclined enough to reveal their spiral arms. The three galaxies are gravitationally bound to each other.

NGC 3628(lower right), also known as the Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah’s Galaxy, is a famous unbarred spiral galaxy and has an apparent magnitude of 10.2. The Hamburger Galaxy is known for its broad equatorial band of dust and a vast tidal tail, spanning approximately 300,000 light-years. It is classified as a “starburst galaxy”.

Messier 65 (M65)(lower left) is an intermediate spiral galaxy with a linear diameter of about 90,000 light-years and has an apparent magnitude of 10.25. Its high surface brightness is visible even in small binoculars and appears as an oval-shaped patch.

Messier 66 (M66, NGC3627) (upper left) is an intermediate spiral galaxy, the brightest and largest member of the Leo Triplet of galaxies with a spatial diameter of about 95,000 light-years, and has an apparent magnitude of 8.9. M66 is separated from M65 by only 200,000 light-years or 20 arc minutes of apparent sky.

Technical details:

location: Palo Alto, California, USA

PhotometricColorCalibration data:

Resolution ............... 0.784 arcsec/px

Rotation ................. 145.832 deg

Observation start time ... 2021-02-05 08:40:58 UTC

Observation end time ..... 2021-03-21 09:38:44 UTC

Geodetic coordinates ..... 122 08 00 W 37 26 00 N

Focal distance ........... 989.34 mm

Pixel size ............... 3.76 um

Field of view ............ 1d 42' 11.8" x 1d 13' 27.2"

Image center ............. RA: 11 20 53.697 Dec: +13 22 01.67

Astrodon LRGB Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance Filter Sets (50mm Unmounted)

Lum 23x120" 85x300" 47x600" 15.68 Hours Bin1x1

Blue 26x300" 70x600" 13.58 Hours Bin1x1

Green 30x300" 65x600" 13.3 Hours Bin1x1

Red 25x300" 72x600" 14.0 Hours Bin1x1