Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Leo (Leo)  ·  Contains:  M 65  ·  M 66  ·  NGC 3623  ·  NGC 3627  ·  NGC 3628
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The Leo Triplet, Robert Fidler
The Leo Triplet
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The Leo Triplet

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Leo Triplet, Robert Fidler
The Leo Triplet
Powered byPixInsight

The Leo Triplet

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Description

Gaining it's namesake from the constellation in which it is located, the Leo Triplet is a small clusters of galaxies.  Two of these galaxies were first catalogued in Messier's famous list of "not comets" in the late 1700's.  It wasn't until later that the dimmer NGC 3628 was discovered next to the brighter M65 and M66.  These three galaxies can show how different spiral galaxies can look from our viewpoint.  With the two Messier objects showing details of the delicate arms, while NGC 3628 lies nearly edge on to use, obscuring it's details behind the thick dust lanes of its arms.

These three islands of stars seem to me as the heralds of spring and galaxy season.  I wish I had a bit more reach to get closer to them and reveal more detail, but they show up well enough at 600mm.  While this is only an hour, I expect to add far more data as the year progresses.

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The Leo Triplet, Robert Fidler

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