Leo Trio, M65, M66 and NGC 3628
The Leo Trio in the constellation Leo are 3 galaxies each having their galactic plane at different angles to the view. On the left is the edge on NGC 3628 galaxy, spiral galaxies Messier 65 bottom right and Messier 66 top right. They all are in the range of 30 million light distance. This field is about 500,000 light years wide. There are some tidal forces in effect apparent by the relative thickness of NGCC 3628 and drawn out arms of M66.
Equipment
- Celestron 11 on a CGEM mount, Atik 460EX, Starizona Hyperstar, Starlight
Xpress Lodestar X2 autoguider on an Orion ShortTube 80 for guiding.
Image
- R,G,B: 23X 1-Minute, 25X 1-Minute, 35X 1-Minute exposures (1.45 Hrs)
Software
- PHD2 for scope guiding. Nebulosity for image capture, calibration, stacking preliminary processing. Photoshop CS5.1 for final processing and Noiseware noise reduction.
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