A Gravitational Dance of Three Giants
The Leo Triplet is a small group of galaxies consisting of Messier 65, Messier 66, and the edge-on spiral NGC 3628 (The Hamburger Galaxy). While they appear peaceful, they are locked in a gravitational tug-of-war. M66 shows significant distortion in its spiral arms, and NGC 3628 sports a massive 'tidal tail'—a faint stream of stars 300,000 light-years long—both caused by past close encounters between the members. Observing all three together provides a masterclass in how perspective and interaction shape the appearance of galaxies.
Imaging Challenges
- • Capturing the extremely faint tidal tail of NGC 3628, which requires very deep integration and dark skies.
- • Processing the drastically different brightness levels between the bright cores of M65/M66 and the dark dust lane of the Hamburger.
- • Dealing with the nearby bright star Chertan (Theta Leonis), which can cause internal reflections or gradients.
The 'Tidal Tail' of the Hamburger Galaxy was created roughly 800 million years ago when it had a gravitational 'brush-in' with its neighbor M66.