The Leo Triplet

Leo Triplet

Location in Sky

Leo Triplet

Acquisition: AT115EDT. February, 2023


Quick Facts

  • Catalog: M65, M66, NGC 3628.
  • Discovered: 1780, Charles Messier.
  • Distance from Earth: 30 Million Light-years.
  • Diameter: 90,000; 95,000; 100,000 Light-years.
  • Magnitude: 9.3, 8.9, 9.5
  • Best Visible: Spring.

    • Description

    The Leo triplet is a group of galaxies M65, M66 and NGC 3628 (top-left, top-right and bottom respectively) located within the leg of the Leo constellation. NGC 3628 has earned the nickname “The Hamburger Galaxy” among astronomers. This group of galaxies lies at a distance of roughly 30 million Light-years, or 176,358,761,195,511,021,568 miles away. If the goal of the Apollo 10 Moon mission was to take a trip to one of the galaxies in the Leo triplet, it would only take them 812 Billion years to get there. It’s safe to say these galaxies are just out of reach, but are close enough that we can observe their beauty as they were 30 million years ago. Unfortunately, since these galaxies are so far away we don’t know too much about them.