The Leo Triplet
Characteristics:
RA (J2000): 11h 19m 34s
Dec (J2000): +13 degrees 15' 56"
Position Angle: 90 degrees
Field of View: Approximately 1 degree
Description:
The
Leo Triplet is a famous and photogenic target for
astrophotographers.
The three main galaxies that comprise the triplet are NGC 3628 (the
"Hamburger Galaxy", lower left), M65 (top), and M66 (lower
right). These spiral galaxies are
approximately 35 million light years away, with NGC 3628 being seen
edge-on and showing an intricate pattern of central dust, while both
M65 and M66 being tilted to reveal their spiral structure. The
galaxies of the Leo Triplet have been influenced by intense
gravitatational interactions, most notably between NGC 3628 and M66,
leaving each galaxy with tidal tails and misshapen spiral arms. A
faint tidal tail associated with NGC 3828 can be seen in the lower left
of the image, and the diffuse and misshapen spiral arms of M66 are
plainly visible as well. M66 (lower right) in particular shows
many regions of
new
star formation, as evidenced by the predominance of blue light emitted
by newly formed star clusters coursing through its spiral arms, a
testimony to the gravitational interactions it has had with NGC
3628 (lower left).
In contrast, M65 (top) shows a very well organized spiral structure
with much less blue, indicating that it has experienced less
disturbance from the other two members of the trio. More
detail about this region may be found on Rob
Gendler's
website.
Photographic
Details:
Dates: February 3 thru 6,
2024.
Scope: Takahashi
FSQ106 at f5 on the Takahashi NJP
Mount.
Autoguider: ASI178 autoguider with SvBony 30mm guidescope, focal length
120mm.
Camera: ZWO ASI294MM at -10C,
with
7 position ZWO filter wheel. Pixel size is 2.3 microns (Bin 1x1),
yielding an image scale with the FSQ (530mm focal length) of 0.90
"/pixel (well matched for my seeing of 3 arcseconds).
Camera gain set to 50 (e-gain
2.13 electrons/ADU), offset 25.
Read noise at this gain level was 2.18 electrons rms.
Filters: Baader LRGB
filters; 2 inch.
Image acquisition
software: MaximDL for camera control and autoguiding; CCD
Commander for automation.
Exposures: Total
exposure 11 hours (LUM 4 hours, 60 second subs; Red 2 hours, 120 second
subs; Green 2 hours, 120 second subs; Blue 3 hours, 120 second subs ).
Processing:
Calibration,
integration, Spectrophotometric Color Calibration (SPCC), deconvolution
(BlurXTerminator), noise reduction
(NoiseXTerminator) in
Pixinsight; subsequent processing in Photoshop.
Please
note: Graphics on this website may not be reproduced without
author permission.
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