Observation by Martin Butcher: Leo Triplet

Uploaded by

Stuart Morris

Observer

Martin Butcher

Observed

2012 Apr 18 - 22:04

Uploaded

2021 Apr 09 - 09:25

Objects

M65
M66

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Constellation

Leo

Field centre

RA: 11^h19^m
Dec: +13°01'
Position angle: +20°25'

Field size

0°42' × 0°28'

Equipment

Meade LX-90 8" telescope fitted to its field tripod by an equatorial wedge.
LX-90 Periodic Error Correction enabled.
Dew Removal straps fitted to telescope and camera lens
Telescope and camera powered by Mains Power.
Stock Canon 40D with 200mm f/2.8 lens stopped down to f/4
Telescope driven but unguided

Exposure

One hundred sub-exposures each 60 seconds taken at ISO1600. Ambient temperature one degree Celsius.

Location

Isle of Colonsay

Target name

M65, M66 and NGC3628 - Leo Triplet

Title

Leo Triplet

About this image

The Leo Triplet, or the M66 Group, is a group of interacting spiral galaxies located in the northern constellation Leo.

M65 is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 35 million light-years away from Earth.

M66 is a spiral galaxy that belongs to the Leo Triplet of galaxies.

NGC3628 is known as the Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah's Galaxy, is an unbarred spiral galaxy and is the third member, of the Leo Triplet

Equipment used:- Stock Canon 40D mounted at Prime Focus on Meade LX-90 8” telescope (focal ratio f/10 focal length 2,000mm) with a 0.63x Focal Reducer (giving an effective focal ratio of f/6.3 and focal length of 1,279mm) fitted to its field tripod by an equatorial wedge. Telescope Polar Aligned. LX-90 Periodic Error Correction enabled. Dew Removal straps fitted to telescope and operating. Telescope driven but unguided. Telescope and camera powered by Mains Power.

Exposure details:- One hundred sub-exposures each 60 seconds taken at ISO1600. Ambient temperature one degree Celsius.

Processing details:- After quality control 86 sub-exposures calibrated with Dark, Flat-field and Bias Master frames before being combined and processed in Images Plus. Further processing conducted in Photoshop CS5 and Noise Ninja. North is at the top. Image cropped to give field of view of 33 arc minutes x 22 arc minutes.

Narrative description:- Twenty seven days after New Moon, the Moon did not rise before imaging was complete. The weather was cold, with isolated clouds and a breeze from the north east (the telescope was set up to the south west of my house). There was moderate dew.

Files associated with this observation

MButcherNGC3623 or M65 & NGC3627 or M66.jpg (79.3 kB)

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