M66 Group - Leo Triplet Galaxies
Messier 66 (M66), the brightest and largest member of the Leo Triplet of galaxies, is an intermediate spiral galaxy located in Leo constellation. The galaxy lies at a distance of about 36 million light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 8.9. It has the designation NGC 3627 in the New General Catalogue.
Messier 66 has a diameter of about 95,000 light years. It can be seen in the same field of view as its neighbours M65 and NGC 3628. M66 is separated from M65 by only 200,000 light years.
The Leo Triplet can be found between the stars Theta and Iota Leonis, or along the line from the bright star Denebola to Regulus, the brightest star in Leo.
In this picture M66 is the leftmost of the two Messier galaxies in the group.
The Leo Triplet is also known as the M66 Group, which consists of M66, M65, NGC 3628 and possibly two other galaxies. M66 is notable for its outstanding dark dust lanes and bright starburst regions along the spiral arms.
Gravitational interaction with the nearby galaxies Messier 65 and NGC 3628 has significantly affected M66. The galaxy’s past encounter with NGC 3628 has resulted in an extremely high central mass concentration, asymmetrical spiral arms and an interstellar cloud composed of neutral atomic hydrogen – removed from one of the galaxy’s spiral arms. As a result, the galaxy appears to have a conspicuous and unusual structure of spiral arms and dust lanes. The distorted, hooked spiral arms appear displaced above the plane of the galaxy’s disk.
Equipment Used
Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 81 APO
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Plus
Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at gain 101, temperature -10C
Filter: Optolong L-Pro filter
Focal reducer: William Optics 0.8x 2.00"
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290MM Mini guidecam
Guide Scope: William Optics 50mm
Stacked from:
Lights 25 at 300s, gain 101, temp -10C
Darks 30 at 300s, gain 101, temp -10C
Flats 30 at 850ms, gain 101, temp -10C
DarkFlats 30 at 850ms, gain 101 temp -10C
Bortle 4 sky.
Stacked in AstroPixelProcessor and adjusted in Photoshop CS4 and Topaz DeNoise AI
M66 Group - Leo Triplet Galaxies
Messier 66 (M66), the brightest and largest member of the Leo Triplet of galaxies, is an intermediate spiral galaxy located in Leo constellation. The galaxy lies at a distance of about 36 million light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 8.9. It has the designation NGC 3627 in the New General Catalogue.
Messier 66 has a diameter of about 95,000 light years. It can be seen in the same field of view as its neighbours M65 and NGC 3628. M66 is separated from M65 by only 200,000 light years.
The Leo Triplet can be found between the stars Theta and Iota Leonis, or along the line from the bright star Denebola to Regulus, the brightest star in Leo.
In this picture M66 is the leftmost of the two Messier galaxies in the group.
The Leo Triplet is also known as the M66 Group, which consists of M66, M65, NGC 3628 and possibly two other galaxies. M66 is notable for its outstanding dark dust lanes and bright starburst regions along the spiral arms.
Gravitational interaction with the nearby galaxies Messier 65 and NGC 3628 has significantly affected M66. The galaxy’s past encounter with NGC 3628 has resulted in an extremely high central mass concentration, asymmetrical spiral arms and an interstellar cloud composed of neutral atomic hydrogen – removed from one of the galaxy’s spiral arms. As a result, the galaxy appears to have a conspicuous and unusual structure of spiral arms and dust lanes. The distorted, hooked spiral arms appear displaced above the plane of the galaxy’s disk.
Equipment Used
Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 81 APO
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Plus
Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at gain 101, temperature -10C
Filter: Optolong L-Pro filter
Focal reducer: William Optics 0.8x 2.00"
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290MM Mini guidecam
Guide Scope: William Optics 50mm
Stacked from:
Lights 25 at 300s, gain 101, temp -10C
Darks 30 at 300s, gain 101, temp -10C
Flats 30 at 850ms, gain 101, temp -10C
DarkFlats 30 at 850ms, gain 101 temp -10C
Bortle 4 sky.
Stacked in AstroPixelProcessor and adjusted in Photoshop CS4 and Topaz DeNoise AI