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Leo Triplet


NGC 1502

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Hi all. The Leo Triplet is of course a much viewed/imaged set of

galaxies, M65, M66 and NGC 3628. They are all an easy catch

visually from my clubs dark site. But from my back garden, NGC

3628 has always eluded me, even with the much easier Messier

pair as a guide. I've tried for years to do that.

However, taking advantage of a rare clear night, I finally saw all

three in the same 1.5 degree field at 44x with my 10" scope, from

my back yard, at 02.30 hrs on 8th Feb. Viewing at 85x darkened

the background sky, and I could make out the elongated shape

of the NGC galaxy.

Light pollution is a pain, but with a bit of persistance ( well a lot

actually ! ) a lot can be seen.

So don't give up on astronomy from a town :(

Best regards, Ed.

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...the third wasn't visible though from my garden.....

Hi Chris, yes, exactly what I found on so many occasions.

I think that what may have tipped the balance for me on 8th Feb

was the fact it was 0230 hrs. All the neighbours were in bed,

lights out, much less traffic on the nearby A127, maybe a

more transparent sky & no moon.

Keep trying :) Ed.

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I never saw 3628 from the UK. It is clear here in the big Dob and photographically has a long tidal tail which is one of my imaging ambitions for this spring... I think you did very well to catch it from an imperfect site. Wonderful, the Triplet.

Olly

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Congrats - from my suburban home in California I have light pollution on the 6-7 Bortle scale so trying pick out the Leo Triplet from home is all but impossible. I drive 30 minutes to a more secluded spot and was stunned to pick out the triplet - faint, but definitely visible. And I agree - one must not give up hope - they are there waiting.

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Congrats - from my suburban home in California I have light pollution on the 6-7 Bortle scale so trying pick out the Leo Triplet from home is all but impossible. I drive 30 minutes to a more secluded spot and was stunned to pick out the triplet - faint, but definitely visible. And I agree - one must not give up hope - they are there waiting.

I should do that more often. I got the triplet in the distant past with my old 6", but don't find time to get the scope to a darker spot.

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From the discussion, I presume the Triplet is difficult where there is light pollution. I tried last night with my 10" dob from my back garden with the lights of Slough in the same direction about 5 miles away. I presume the Triplet would be difficult from my location. I thought I saw one very small fuzzy patch when I agitated the scope.

How dark must the site be in sky magnitude before one can easily see one or more of the galaxies with a 10" dob?

Alan

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Hi Alan, difficult to say how good your sky needs to be to see all

three. My limiting naked eye mag is about 4.2 approx on a moonless

and transparent night. I had tried very many times to see all three

without success, until this one occasion at 0230 hrs, which is what

may have tipped the balance (neighbours all tucked up & lights out,

less traffic on nearby main road) The two M galaxies are much less

difficult, and all three are easy from my clubs dark site.

Regards, Ed.

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same here, observed the triplet a couple fo nights in a row now, M66 and M65 are always there below the backfoot star of the lion, but the third one is not always visible, depends on seeing conditions.

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Michael - 27...I spend 15 minutes on each one to find it draw it and log it. Either you were out for a long time or you spend less time on each one!

I was out a long time (10-11:30 PM, and 1-3:30 am), but did not draw them. At 4 hours observing time, this boils down to 8 minutes per galaxy. However, don't forget in Virgo and Coma you get four or five in a single FOV frequently, so if you spend 16 minutes on observing the four in the FOV you have only spent 4 minutes per galaxy. I did not use goto, so star hopping time is included in the 8 minutes, but every time I was bang on target (big finder scopes rule!). Besides, many of these I had seen and drawn before. I will draw up a fuller report later.

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We had a go for fun last night in the Tak FSQ85. And by Gad we got all three! I was really surprised. The NGC member was right on the limit of my vision and that of our guest astronomer, but again a dark site is everything. It just made a faint streak of dark grey against the blackness.

It's good using small apertures to see what you can tease out.

The GoTo on the visiting iOptron IEQ45 was very accurate.

Olly

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I got the triplet from a darker location a few nights ago (with the C8, so it is easy to spot), and much more detail was visible. I got M65 and M66 in the 70mm finder, and internal detail stood out in the C8 with the Paragon 40 mm. NGC 3628 showed a slightly sigmoidal shape and hinted of a dust lane. The latter was even clearer in the 22mm Nagler. I even got NGC 3596 and NGC 3593 nearby.

Olly: what is the IEQ45 like. I am thinking of saving up for one, so I am interested in your opinion of it. Is it really a lot lighter than the EQ6?

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