February 26, 2016
The Leo Triplets.
The Leo Triplets are an interacting group about 35 million light years from earth.
Text below copied from this LINK:
M66, the largest and brightest member of the Leo Triplet, is roughly 95 light years across.
It has an apparent size of 9.1 by 4.2 minutes of arc and an apparent magnitude of 8.9.
M65, has a visual magnitude of 10.25 and occupies an area of 8.709 by 2.454 arc minutes of apparent sky.
It is an intermediate spiral galaxy, poor in dust and gas, and shows little evidence of star formation.
NGC3628, is an unbarred spiral galaxy with a visual magnitude of 10.2. Seen edge-on, the
galaxy occupies an area of 15 by 3.6 arc minutes and appears transected by a broad
band of dust that stretches along its outer edge, hiding the young stars in the galaxy’s spiral arms.
While waiting for the Leo Triplets to rise in the east, I
shot the Andromeda Galaxy again. Full frame at 500mm.