NGC 3628 Left.
4/20/2009 12:02:57 AM . Latitude: 43° 48′ 17″ North Longitude: 122° 42′ 45″ W. 3411 ft. Eagles Ridge; 25 Miles South of Dexter, Oregon. Seeing: E Transparency: 7. Bortle: 2 SQM: 21.88. Telescopes / Optics: TEC 140 f/7 APO fl 980mm. Mount : AstroPhysics 1200 GOTO. Camera: SBIG ST10XME; 2 Hours 45 minutes; LRGB ( L=120 min; RGB= 45 min.). 300 sec sub-images. FOV: 0º 52’ 12” x 0º 35’ 24”. Information: Used CCDSoft, CCDStack, AIP, Photoshop.
The Leo Trio of Galaxies is located in the rear leg area of the Constellation LEO, the lion. They are situated halfway between the stars Chertan (3.3 magnitude) on top and 78-Iota Leonis magnitude 4.46, on the bottom. They form a small group of galaxies 35 million light years away. Shinning at magnitude 10.3, 9.7 and 9.4 respectfully, they are visible through a good pair of binoculars or small 4-6″ telescope. Wide field eyepieces produce a stunning view of the Leo Trio of Galaxies in larger aperture instruments of 12-16″.
NGC 3628 is an edge on galaxy discovered by William Herschel in 1784. Estimated at 300,000 light years across and 35 million light years away. Apparent magnitude of 10.2 and 15′ x 3.6′ (arc minutes) in size. This Galaxy is also known as the Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah’s Galaxy and is a great example of an unbarred spiral galaxy discovered by William Herschel in 1784.
M 65 Galaxy NGC 3623 (Upper Right) and apparent magnitude 10.25 and 8.7′ x 2.45′
M 66 Galaxy NGC 3627 (Lower Right) 95,000 light years across, 8.9 mag. 9.1′ x 4.2′