The Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628. M65 and M66 were discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1780. Messier 65 and Messier 66 are a common object for amateur astronomic observation, being separated by only 20′. These three galaxies have been consistently identified as group members in the Nearby Galaxies Catalog, the Lyons Groups of Galaxies (LGG) Catalog, and the group lists created from the Nearby Optical Galaxy sample of Giuricin et al.
Messier 65 (also known as NGC 3623) is an intermediate spiral galaxy. Messier 66, also known as NGC 3627, is also an intermediate spiral galaxy. M66 has a morphological classification of SABb, indicating that is has a spiral shape with a weak bar feature and loosely wound arms. NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah’s Galaxy, is an unbarred spiral galaxy. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. It has an approximately 300,000 light-years long tidal tail. Its most conspicuous feature is the broad and obscuring band of dust located along the outer edge of its spiral arms, effectively transecting the galaxy to the view from Earth.

Telescope: Planewave Delta Rho 350 f3.0
Mount: Astro Physics 3600GTO “El Capitan”
Camera: ZWO ASI461MM pro / EFW-7
Guider: ZWO OAG-L-68 / ZWO ASI174mm Mini
Filters: Astrodon II 50mm Sq LRGB

L: 80×5 mins = 400 mins, R: 48×5 mins = 240 mins, G: 48×5 mins = 240 mins, B: 42×5 mins = 210 mins

Total Imaging Time: 18h 10m

Data Imaged remotely on 8 nights during January & February 2026.
Data acquisition & Processing by David Churchill.

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