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Galaxies M95, M96, and M105 are a group of galaxies within the Leo I group of galaxies 38 million light years away. All were discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781, and were added to Charles Messier's famous catalog. M95 (left) is a "barred" spiral galaxy, with a bar shape at its core, and discrete spiral arms. In the image above, Supernova SN2012aw, just 6 days old, can be seen on the left side of M95 (arrow appears with cursor over image). M96 (center in the image above, and to the right in the image below) is slightly brighter, containing a bright inner disk of old yellow stars, an inner ring of younger blue-white stars, surrounded by a fainter outer ring also dominated by younger stars. M105 (upper right) is the larger of 2 elliptical galaxies. Its smaller companion to its right is NGC 3371. Just above this pair is the smaller spiral galaxy NGC 3389. Faint red streaks at the bottom of the image is glare from nearby Mars, just outside of the image area.
The image above combined 45 minutes red, 55 minutes green, and 60 minutes blue exposures with an ST10XME camera through a Takahashi Sky90 refractor. The image below combined 70 minutes luminance exposures using a clear filter with 45 minutes each of red, green, and blue exposures with the same ST10XME camera through a TEC 140mm refractor at my private observatory.
The noctural serenity at my secluded observatory "fills up my senses" during a "night in the forest" as I image from the "mountains in springtime". |
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