Saturday, April 27, 2024

Bright Galaxies in Leo (overnight)

With the moon out of the sky until late evening, tonight is a good time to explore the galaxies in Leo that are observable in backyard telescopes. The well-known Leo Triplet consists of three spiral galaxies, M65, M66, and NGC 3628, all sitting within a finger's width (0.5 degree) field of view. Their visual magnitudes range from 8.9 to 10.3, and all three have good surface brightness due to their near edge-on orientations. Find the group 2.75
degrees southeast of the star Chertan, which marks the lion's rear foot. Another group of prominent galaxies is positioned about midway between the triplet and Regulus. The close pair of M105 and NGC 3384 viewed in a
telescope resembles headlights in the fog. Two more galaxies, M95 and M96,
are 1 degree to the south of those "eyes".

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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