By Bill Kozar | 2026-03-11
The Leo triplet of galaxies
On 03/19/2026 11:00 pm by Steven Bellavia | Website | Scottsburg, VA
I have always enjoyed images of the Leo Triplet of galaxies.
But I have also always wanted to capture them close-up, one at a time, as each one is beautiful and full of intricate colors and details, often missed in the wide field images.
So on my recent astro-camping trip to the Staunton River Star Party, I captured two of the three, close-up, with the third from a year ago, also from the same star party.
Wide field for all three galaxies: Borg 90FL Telescope, ZWO ASI 183MC camera
NGC 3628: Apertura 6-inch Classic Cassegrain, ZWO ASI 294MM camera
M65 and M66: TS-Photoline 115mm triplet refractor, ZWO ASI 533MC camera
SkyWatcher EQ6-R pro equatorial mount for all
light frames and calibration frames used in PixInsight for calibration, alignment and integration.