The Leo Trio    M-65, M-66, & NGC 3628

These three galaxies are a wonderful composition with focal lengths between 1500-2300mm. They are known as the trio in Leo or the M-66  group. They are about 35 million light years away from our galaxy. The three show signs of gravitational interaction with each other; the deformed spiral arms of M-66 (upper left) and oddly misshapen dust lane of NGC 3628 (right) are two indicators of this.

This image is a composite of a 50 minute exposure on hypered Kodak technical pan film; and two 60 minute exposures on hypered Kodak PJ400. They were taken with my 12.5" f/7 Newtonian telescope.

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