The Leo Quartet

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Image Data: Object Information:
  • Exposure:  LRGB - 30x600s:12x600s:12x260:12x440
    • All exposures binned 1x1
    • Total of 9.3 hours!!
  • Telescope:  Stellarvue SV80S @ f/4.78
  • Mount:  MI-250 GoTo
  • Camera:  SBIG ST-2000XM CCD, SBIG CFW-8
  • Location:  My backyard in Goleta, CA
  • Date/Time: 
    • L: February 1, 2005, 00:00-05:30 PST
    • RGB: February 1/2, 2005, 23:06-05:07 PST
  • Processing:  Taken  in CCDSoft v5 using CCD Commander 100% UNATTENDED while I slept!  Reduced in CCDSoft.  Aligned sub-frames with RegiStar.  Combined sub-exposures with Ray Gralak's Sigma Clip.  Aligned sub-frames with RegiStar.  DDP with custom software.  Curves, levels, selective sharpening/blurring, and color combine in Photoshop.
  • Names:  M65, M66, NGC3628, NGC3593 and many others.
  • Type:  Galaxy Group (known as the M66 Group), plus many background galaxies
  • Constellation:  Leo
  • Distance: about 35 million light-years to the M66 Group

  • A group of galaxies gravitationally locked together.  M66 is the galaxy in the lower left corner and considerably larger then the other galaxies.  You can see the distortions in M66's arms due to the interaction with the other galaxies.  M65 is just to the right of M66 - strangly M65 appears to be undisturbed.  NGC3628 is in the upper left corner.  We are looking at its edge.  The dust band across the middle of NGC3628 is obviously distorted from the gravitational interaction.  The final member of this group is NGC3593 in the lower right corner.
  • The dimmist galaxy I was able to find is PGC1440966 at magnitude 18.9!
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