Messier 65 & Messier 66 (Leo)
Fig. 1: Magical galaxy pairing: The galaxies Messier 66 (left) and Messier 65 (right) in the constellation Leo, photographed with a 16-inch f/4.5 Dob on an equatorial platform.
| Object name: | Constellation: | Coordinates: | Apparent size: | Visual brightness: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Messier 65 (NGC 3623) | Leo | 11h19m / +13°06' | 8.7' x 2.5' | 9.3 mag |
| Messier 66 (NGC 3627) | Leo | 11h20m / +12°59' | 9.1' x 4.2' | 8.9 mag |
The intermediate spiral galaxies Messier 66 (left) and Messier 65 (right) in the constellation Leo. The two spirals are about 35 million light-years from earth and were discovered by Charles Messier in 1780. They can be seen in a small telescope (source: Wikipedia).
Exposure time: 1h 7min (20x approx. 3min) at ISO 800, taken on March 28/29, 2014. Processing with Deep Sky Stacker and Photoshop. No calibration frames were taken.
Equipment: Canon EOS 450D Baader modified camera, TeleVue Universal Paracorr coma corrector, 16" f/4.5 "Ninja" dobsonian telescope riding on a dual-axis Tom Osypowski equatorial platform, Lacerta MGEN autoguider, Lacerta off axis system.
Field of view comparison: image of the moon with the same setup.
Fig. 2 - Search chart for Messier65 and Messier 66. Copyright 2025 'The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project', www.siaris.net.