The Leo Trio

These 3 galaxies are about 35 million light years distant from us and are sometimes called the M66 group. They are distorted by the gravitational interactions between them. Whilst being the dullest of the three, NGC3628 is a particularly interesting galaxy with a large & deformed equatorial dust band. Having a low surface brightness it was awkward for Messier to spot and so its discovery was left for William Herschel to accomplish. They are:

Messier 65 (Mag 9.3 SB 12.80)
Messier 66 (Mag 8.9 SB 12.70)
NGC 3628 (Mag 10.3 SB 14.21)

Image Data:
Focal Length 700mm
Focal Ratio f5.6
Exposure 2 hrs 24 mins

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