in the Leo Triplett
Right Ascension | 11 : 20.2 (h:m) |
---|---|
Declination | +12 : 59 (deg:m) |
Distance | 35000 (kly) |
Visual Brightness | 8.9 (mag) |
Apparent Dimension | 8x2.5 (arc min) |
Discovered 1780 by Charles Messier.
Messier 66 (M66, NGC 3627), together with its neighbors M65 and NGC 3628, forms a most conspicuous triplet of galaxies, the Leo Triplett or M66 group, located at a distance of about 35 million light years.
M66 is considerably larger than its neighbor, M65, and has a well developed but not well defined central bulge, and is therefore classified Sb. Obviously its spiral arms are deformed, probably because of the encounters with its neighbors. They seem to be distorted and displaced above the plane of the galaxy. Note how one of the spiral arms seems to pass over the left side of the central bulge. Much dust is visible here, as well as a few pink nebulae, signs of star formation, near the end of one of the arms.
This image was obtained by David Malin with the 3.9-meter Anglo-Australian Telescope of the Australian Astronomical Observatory; interested readers may obtain more detailed information on this image.
Together with its neighbor M65, M66 has been discovered by Charles Messier, who cataloged it on March 1, 1780, remarks that he missed these two objects in 1773, when a comet passed between them on November 1 to 2, 1773, probably because of the light of the comet. Because of a dubious error, Admiral Smyth has assigned this discovery of M65 and M66 (and M68) to Pierre Méchain, a view which was adopted by Kenneth Glyn Jones somewhen in the 1960s, and consequently, in many modern sources, despite the fact that Messier doesn't acknowledge such a prior sighting, which he did in all other cases.
Five supernovae have appeared in this galaxy:
Last Modification: June 15, 2016