20211220/21 - M65, M66, NGC3268  (LEO) - The Leo Triplet … Reaching a bit too far, but it’s comforting not to be alone in space

What’s in the picture(s) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Triplet
Quote: “The Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies about 35 millionlight-years away in the constellationLeo. This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxiesM65, M66, and NGC 3628.“

What was the experience
I generally plan a ‘spare’ DSO at the end of my Astro-sessions, the last hour, running into the morning glow. That’s how I also caught the Orion Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula in my previous posts.

After 2 1/2 months of clouds, any moment of a clear sky was like Nirvana, even with a thick fog and a full moon. In the early morning, with the full moon well into the west, the Leo-constellation is popping up above the tree-line. At the start of my journey 9 months ago, I attempted the Leo triplet with the DSLR and zoom lens …. reaching a bit too far, only faint smudges in the image needing a magnifying glass.

So, these last 2 nights I pulled in about 2 hours of data of the Leo Triplet with the TS94, a bit too small for comfort (this would really need my TS140), marred with fog, lit by the full moon clearly impacting the background in the image. I tried to optimise this as much as possible in the processing, but the moon-lit fog is seeping in from the right into the image.

But … they’re there … 3 over-sized smudges. To me, this is a step further on my journey into space. After the Nebulae inside our Milky Way, the galaxies in the Local Group, gradually venturing deeper into space

How it was done
Scope: TS94 APO (FL 414mm)
Mount: EQ6-R Pro
Camera: ASI2600MC Pro
Filter: L-Enhance
Photons: 
20211220 300s 11x
20211221 300s 14x
Darks/Flats/Bias
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)

What have I learned from this
Fog, full moon, a clear sky and astrophotography are not the things that go well together. But, like I said in my previous post: attempt the difficult things, to learn, to improve. A principle I try to live by …
Galaxies need a bigger scope and a lot more data compared to nebula, 2 hours is not nearly enough. However, the lack of quality in the image is compensated by the imagination: in my eyes these galaxies are whirling together in space 🤩

Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭

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