Gallery 1 - Astronomical   >   Deep Sky    >   Galaxies   >   M66

M66 (also known as NGC 3627) is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 36 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1780. M66 is about 95 thousand light years across with striking dust lanes and bright star clusters along its spiral arms. M66 is part of the famous Leo Trio, a small group of galaxies that also includes M65 and NGC 3628.

Image Data : Total exp.= 3 hours.
L:R:G:B: = 24: 52: 53: 52: mins.
Location: Sunglow Ranch, AZ
Equipment: Ceravolo 300 Astrograph at f/4.9, cropped
Mount:Paramount ME
Camera: Apogee U16M with Astrodon filters
Software used: MaxIm DL, Registar, PS CS2
Image Aquisition: Peter
Image Processing: Debra