Astronomy Picture of the Day -- The Leo Triplet Galaxies from VST

NASA ^ | August 03, 2011 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: This popular group is famous as the Leo Triplet - a gathering of three magnificent galaxies in one field of view. Crowd pleasers when imaged with even modest telescopes, these galaxies can be introduced individually as NGC 3628 (top), M66 (bottom left), and M65 (bottom right). All three are large spiral galaxies. They tend to look dissimilar because their galactic disks are tilted at different angles to our line of sight. NGC 3628 is seen edge-on, with obscuring dust lanes cutting across the plane of the galaxy, while the disks of M66 and M65 are both inclined enough to show off their spiral structure. Gravitational interactions between galaxies in the group have also left telltale signs, including the warped and inflated disk of NGC 3628 and the drawn out spiral arms of M66. This gorgeous deep view of the region was taken by the new VLT Survey Telescope (VST) and spans about one degree (two full moons) on the sky. The field covers over 500 thousand light-years at the trio's estimated distance of 30 million light-years.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: ESO, INAF-VST, OmegaCAM] [Acknowledgement: OmegaCen, Astro-WISE, Kapteyn I.]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Slambat]

There are a lot more than three galaxies in that shot.
Great pic. Thanks for posting.

[ETL]

>There are a lot more than three galaxies in that shot.

Yes, on this high res enlargement (http://129.164.179.22/apod/image/1108/leotriplet_vst_4000.jpg) you can see many more. Galaxies are the “fuzzy” objects. Many are also irregular in shape.

[Tucker39]

Thanks for the pic.
Amazing how huge this one little view of a portion of the Universe is. Of course, you wouldn’t expect God to create some puny little lash-up that could be traversed in a measly couple of thousand lightyears, would you?

Psalms 147:4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
Psalms 147:5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Everyone on M66 is going to fall off if they aren’t careful :)

[left that other site]

Thank You for these daily Treats!

[DJ MacWoW]

Freepers! Where's The Yellow?

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[kitchen]

I believe this photo has been rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise, consequently not matching the description in the blurb.

[Conan the Librarian]

Some of my favorite objects! Spring Evenings observing aren’t complete without the “Trio in Leo”.

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

So beautiful!