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Leo Triplet

A new image of the galaxy trio M65, M66 and NGC 3628.

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Leo Triplet

The Leo Triplet is a group of three spiral galaxies, from left M65, M66 and NGC 3628 — in the constellation Leo, about 35 million light-years away. This is a beautiful example of galaxies gravitationally influencing each other. It is the mutual gravitational action that has distorted the shapes of the arms of the galaxy M66 and especially the galaxy NGC 3628. Its most striking feature is a dark streak of dust that lies across the plane of the disk and which is visibly deformed outwards into the letter "X" at its lower edge. Each of the galaxies is tilted at a different angle, so they all appear completely different from our perspective on Earth.

Images of the object

Selected views and details from the original gallery.