Very faint leo triplet (or in my case, leo duplet)

[Ursa Major]

Last night i tried to observe the leo triplet. The seeing conditions were not good with hazy cloud in the sky and quite bad light pollution. The only place I can observe the eastern sky is through my bedroom window (I am young and cannot drive). I wasnt expecting much but did actually see the two messier galaxies through my 5 inch reflector. They were admittedly the faintest grey fuzzy i think it is possible to see.

I was wondering why the star on the edge of m66 at a magnitude of 9.8 was brighter than m66 itself at a magitude of 9.0. Is this because the galaxy is more spread out.

Anyway, I can now tick off two more Messier objects (sort of)

Laurie.

[mdstuart]

Yes thats right the galaxy is spread out. It has a surface brightness well below 9..

Well done anyway on spotting those galaxies.

Try M87 / M49 in Virgo as they are quite bright...

Mark

[Ursa Major]

Thanks Mark, I'll try to find them next time the weather is clear as well as the other galaxies in the Virgo cluster.

[DarkerSky]

You did well to get them both in full moonlight. I'd definitely recommend going back to them when the moon is out of the sky for a better look

[Ursa Major]

Good point, I didnt actually realise the moon had risen, I was observing at around 8:30 before going down to watch wonders of the universe. Some of the facts in that episode made me laugh.

If you squashed all humans up into neutron star matter, it would be the size of a small pebble. And if you dropped that pebble it would go straight through the earth. lol.

[m_j_lyons]

Yes, since you managed to find the faint smudges of with the moon up just wait til you see them during dark conditions - they'll seemingly pop out at you. The Leo Triplet is one of my favorite things to see...but I need to drive about 20 minutes away from home before they are visible (too much LP). Keep it up...between Leo, Virgo, and then up to Coma Berenices you have plenty of galaxies to keep you busy for a long time.

[Ursa Major]

I had a look at Bode's galaxies, M81 and M82 tonight and they seemed to have increased in brightness because i had been viewing galaxies in the leo triplet which were almost non existant in my scope. I think im getting the hang of spotting dso's now.

[WayBig]

You did very well to pick out those two, under moonlight, through a window. It's a great time of year for galaxies isnt it?

[SirFoo]

I also saw two of these on Thurday. They were very faint. At times I was sure that my eyes were deceiving me. They really were just 2 faint grey marks as if someone had put a fingerprint on the lens. Didn't see the third. Well done though. Someone else posted an image of the triplet today and it looks fantstic.

[Ursa Major]

I agree, its a very good time for galaxies. Pitty the seeing is not great at the moment. That image is fantastic, but 8 hours of collected light, thats insane:eek:.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Well done to get M65 and M66. If you manage that in moonlight, you should have a go at the group around M95, M96 and M105 (with two NGCs next to the latter). NGC 2903 is also in Leo, I picked that up easily yesterday. That should be well within range of your scope, given that I spotted a faint smudge in my 70mm finder.

Happy galaxy hunting

[Ursa Major]

The weather was good yesterday so I went out side into my garden where I can now see leo rising above my house and had anouther look at the triplet without the moon, and sure enough, as many of you have suggested, they were alot clearer and more defined.

I also managed to find the other triplet of Messier galaxies in Leo.

Tommorow when im on school holidays im going to stay up and wait for virgo to come around to the south so i can tot up my messier total with the many galaxies:).

[Nexus 6]

Hi Ursa Major, am also going to be checking out Virgo again, so many objects worth trying to observe and, as has been mentioned, will help you to increase your Messier count.

Good Luck

[Doley68]

Hello all,

While out last night with my 6'' achro frac I thought I would take a break from saturn & its moons & have a crack at the Leo triplet. I got the two Messiers quite easily & was JUST able to pick out the third. I was quite surprised & chuffed as I thought a scope of my size would stuggle. I also live in a largeish town so wasn't that confident.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hello all,

While out last night with my 6'' achro frac I thought I would take a break from saturn & its moons & have a crack at the Leo triplet. I got the two Messiers quite easily & was JUST able to pick out the third. I was quite surprised & chuffed as I thought a scope of my size would stuggle. I also live in a largeish town so wasn't that confident.

Congratulations! 6" should be enough, but LP can seriously hurt visibility of galaxies. Well done.