Three spiral galaxies shine high in the spring sky toward the constellation Leo. These galaxies are about 35 million light years away.
M65 is in the upper-right, with M66 below it. NGC3628 is on the left. North is toward the upper-left corner.
Scroll down to see a few of the many galaxies in this image.
| Exposure |
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| Processing |
• With PixInsight: ☞ Calibrate, star-align, and integrate subframes ☞ Reduce background noise ☞ Flatten background ☞ Process for high-dynamic range ☞ Shrink stars • Final tweaking in Photoshop CS6 |
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| Date and Location |
• March 26 &27, 2019 • Louisa County, Virginia, USA |
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Equipment |
• TMB-130SS APO refractor @ f/7 on an A-P 1200 mount • ZWO ASI-1600MC Pro color camera • Guided with an ST-402 camera on a 60mm f/5 scope • Imaging and autoguiding with MaxIm DL 6.20 • Automated image acquisition with ACP Observatory Control |
The image below shows just a few of the hundreds of galaxies in this region of the sky. Every ellipse or fuzzy smudge is a galaxy. Stars are sharp points or disks.
Inset #1 shows two galaxies that are easily seen in the main image plus two more – the faint smudges near the larger galaxies.
Inset #2 reveals two dozen more galaxies. In fact, there are five or six more in the lower-left corner adjacent to the numeral 2.
It is awe-inspiring to consider that each smudge is a galaxy with hundreds of millions, if not billions of stars. And how many Earth-like planets?
Updated May 30, 2023