The galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628 comprise the Leo Triplet
or the M66 group. The goal for this picture was to concentrate
on quality so the spray of stars from NGC 3620 could be
showcased. The Leo Triplet is about 35 Mly from us.
Hover over the picture for an annotated version
Date: 8 and 9 March and 20 April 2026
FOV: approximately 105' × 70'; the angular size of
NGC 3628 is 14' × 3.6', the star spray is about 41'
Rotation: 165.104°
Telescope: Stellarvue SVX102T + SFFX-1 flattener (714mm, f/7)
Guiding: ZWO ASI120MM mini mono guide camera,
Stellarvue F050G 50mm guide scope
Computer: ASIair pro Raspberry Pi
Mount: ZWO AM5
Camera: ZWO ASI6200MC Pro Cooled (-10°C) Color CMOS, APS/c ROI
Pixel size: 3.76 µm
Resolution: 1.052 arcsec/pixel
Filter: Optolong UV/IR cut
Frames: all subs are 300 seconds and 100 gain
fifty-nine frames 8 March2026
sixty-seven frames 9 March2026
sixty-three frames 20 April2026
Stacking: one hundred eighty-nine frames using PixInsight
Total Time: 15 hours and 45 minutes
Processing: Pixinsight – SPPC, DBE, SPCC, BXT, NXT → Linear
MAS, MStr, GHS, HST, PMath MAS + MStr + GHS + HST
→ Stars, Sat,
StarXT, MAS, MStr, GHS, HST, PMath MAS MStr + GHS + HST
→ Starless, HDR68PhLm, Sat
PMath ~(~Stars*~Starless) → Blend, scale
Location: Darling Hill Observatory near Vesper, NY
