The "Leo Trio" is a close grouping of three distant galaxies in the constellation
Leo. All three are at a distance of 35 million light years, and all of them are
spiral galaxies, despite their strikingly different appearances. At the left is
NGC 3628, seen edge-on. The dust lanes which block much of the light along the disk
of this galaxy have been bent and distorted due to the gravitational pull of the other
two galaxies. This probably also accounts for the dramatic flaring at the ends of this
galaxy. At the upper right is M65. The small blue blobs along its spiral arms are clusters
of newly-formed stars. At the lower right is M66, which shows a great deal of distortion in
its arms because of the gravity from the other galaxies in this group. Its arms are also
marked by distinct bands of dust and regions of nebulae, areas of active new star formation.


Image Data:
Camera:Canon 350XT DSLR
Telescope: 10" Schmidt-Newtonian, Baader MPCC
Exposure: ISO 800; 4 hours 15 minutes total (51 x 5 minutes)