Observation by Dr Paul Leyland: Leo II

Uploaded by

Dr Paul Leyland

Observer

Dr Paul Leyland

Observed

2026 Feb 11 - 23:30

Uploaded

2026 Feb 12 - 22:34

Objects

UGC 6253

Equipment

0.4m Dilworth Relay
SX 814 CCD camera
No filter

Exposure

54 minutes

Location

Tacande Observatory, MPC J22

Target name

Leo II --- Deep Sky object of interest 2026 February

Title

Leo II

About this image

Leo II is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the Local Group. It is also the BAA Deep Sky Section's Object of Interest for February 2026. Although relatively bright at magnitude V=12.6 it is also quite large at 12 x 11 arcminutes and so the surface brightness is very low.

This image is the result of 54 minutes exposure with an unfiltered SX 814 camera on a 0.4m Dilworth telescope located at Tacande Observatory, La Palma. Post-processing has been relatively limited, restricted to noise reduction with FABADA and some contrast stretching (hence the saturated bright star images). The galaxy is so large on the sky that it doesn't all fit in the field of view of my telescope so part of the southern extent doesn't appear in the image

Files associated with this observation

Leo_II.png (467.4 kB)

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