Tag Archives: Leo

Leo Triplet in LRGB

This is not the first time I have imaged this trio of trespassers, I have imaged them before on the same scope but with my previous Atik 383L+ CCD Imager, so again similar to M81 and M82, you can clearly see the difference in resolution the new camera offers, here’s the previous image taken from my previous post here:

Equipment Used:
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 8″ F4 Imaging Newtonian
Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M 20mpx ColdMOS Camera at -20C
Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher Finder Scope
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8-Pro GEM Goto Mount
Filterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Filters: Baader Planetarium 36mm LRGB Filters

Software:
Image Acquisition: Main Sequence Software SGPro 3
Guiding: PHD2
Image Processing: PixInsight

Image Details:
Luminance: 101×150 Second Exposures
Red: 101×150 Second Exposures
Green: 101×150 Second Exposures
Blue: 101×150 Second Exposures
Acquisition Dates: 18/19/20/21 Apr 2018,  4/5/6/7/8/9 May 2018

Total Exposure Time: 16.83 Hours

Target Details: Leo Triplet
Constellation: Leo
RA: 11h 19m 36.15s
Dec: 13° 17′ 2.90″
Distance from Earth: 35 Million Light Years
Galaxies: M65 (Top Right), M66 (Bottom Right) and NGC3628 (Bottom Left) also known as The Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah’s Galaxy

Leo Triplet of Galaxies

Leo Triplet In LRGB (above) and LRGB+HA (below)

The Leo Triplet consists of three galaxies at a distance of around 35 million light years, M65 (top right), M66 (bottom right) and NGC3628 (left).  I have always aimed at imaging the triplet since I started imaging but never got around to it.

M65 (NGC 3623) and M66 (NGC 3627) are classed as intermiediate spiral galaxies and NGC3628 is also known as the Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah’s Galaxy and is classed as an Unbarred Spiral Galaxy.

The image consists of:-
29x300S of Luminance
14x300S Red, Green and Blue
15x600S of 7nm HA in the LRGB+HA Image
25 Darks and flats subtracted from all frames

Equipment Details:
Imaging Telescope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 8-CF F4 Imaging Newtonian
Imaging Camera: Atik Cameras 383L+ Mono CCD
Coma Corrector: Sky-Watcher Aplanatic Coma Corrector
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Guide Scoope: Celestron Telescopes C80ED Refractor
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Filter Wheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm USB EFW
Filters: Baader Planetarium LRGB + 7NM HA

Image Aquisition: Main Sequence Software SGPro
Image Pre-Processing and STacking: Maxim-DL
Post Processing: PixInsight

In my opinion, there’s only a subtle difference between the LRGB and LRGBHA images, personally I preffer the LRGB Version, the data was captured over multiple nights since the beginning of 2017 but in total gives 5.91 Hours on the LRGB Image and 8.41 Hours for the LRGB+HA Image