Leo Triplet of Galaxies

An attractive grouping of 3 spiral galaxies in Leo about 35 million LY away. Comprising:

 

L to R

 

NGC 3628 “the Hamburger galaxy” - Edge on spiral with prominent dust lane.

 

Messier 65 spiral galaxy mostly old stars with little dust or gas except where it may have interacted with the other 2. 1 supernova detected.

 

Messier 66 barred spiral with 5 supernovae detected consistent with excess young Star formation probably due to interaction with the other 2.

 

I was able to get 39 x 5 minute subs plus use a further 11 subs from 2019.

 

 

480/80mm f/6 Altair Starwave triplet refractor.

Altair Planostar 1.0 x FF with 2 inch IDAS LPS D1 filter

Astro-modified Canon 80D at ISO400; 39 x 5 minute subs + 11 x 5 minute subs from 2019 (250 mins total integration).

 

March 2020 session

NEQ6 pro mount with Rowan belt drives -2 star alignment.

Camera WiFi control with Backyard EOS

 

Camera sensor temperature (external battery): 10-12c

76 dark frames (temperature matched; 10-12c)

76 flat frames (electroluminescent panel @ 1/40s)

76 bias frames

 

Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.8 and Photoshop CC 2020.

 

Polar Alignment:

QHY Polemaster alignment -

Error measured by PHD2= 1.1 arc minute.

RA drift +1.66 arcsec/min

Dec drift +0.33 arcsec/min

 

Guiding:

PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/Altair Starwave 206/50mm guider. Partially Dithered.

RA RMS error 0.76 arcsec, peak error -3.04 arcsec

Dec RMS error 0.84 arcsec, peak error -3.70 arcsec

 

Environmental

Light pollution measured at 19.75 mag/arcsec2 at start of session and 20.08 at end. Clear throughout.

 

Astrometry:

Center (RA, hms):11h 19m 20.063s

Center (Dec, dms):+13° 09’ 01.35"

Size: 88.2 x 74.1 arcmin

Pixel scale:1.595 arcsec/pixel

Done