The Leo Triplet

Leo Triplet

A trio of galaxies gathers together in the constellation Leo.

  • Telescope: Stellarvue SVA130T-IS
  • Mount: Losmandy G-11 with Gemini 2 controller
  • Autoguiding: Yes
  • Optical Configuration: 0.72x field flattener & reducer (f/5)
  • Camera: Canon 60Da
  • Light Frames: 21, 300-s subframes stacked (105 min.)
  • Calibration: None (no darks, no flats, no biases)
  • Exposure Time(s): 105 min. (21 x 5 min.)
  • ISO: 800
  • Processing: Photoshop CC
  • Imaging Location: Sierra Nevada Mountains (Altitude: 8,600 ft)

Springtime is galaxy season for astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere, when looking up means looking out of the plane of our galaxy and into the reaches of deep space where billions of other galaxies can be found. About 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo is a trio of galaxies called the Leo Triplet performing a primordial gravitational dance together.

The Leo Triplet includes M65 (lower left), M66 (upper left), and NGC 3628 (lower right).