Tag: Leo

Leo Galaxies

Just killing some time while I wait for the Milky Way to rise and to shoot my primary targets for the night. Maybe some galaxies in Leo? There are a lot to choose from, but I am setup for wide field using the TV-76mm with only 389mm of focal length. Too wide to make individual galaxies interesting, maybe a galaxy group?

The group around M95/M96/M105 should be good, it fits in the field nicely. Just shoot for about an hour before moving on the the main targets of the night. With any luck those wisps of evening clouds hanging about will go away as well.

There are a number of nice groupings of galaxies in Leo… The Leo Trio (M65, M66, and NGC3628), and this group around M95 and M96, and a number of fainter galaxy pairs and clusters to chose from.

A group of galaxies in Leo including M95, M96, and M105
A group of galaxies in Leo including M95, M96, and M105

Another Night, Another Supernova

Supernova 2020jfo in M61 is not the only supernova occurring at the moment. Actually there are over sixty supernova in progress at the moment that we know of. The modern transient search programs locate them by the dozens, and while the average large galaxy might have one supernova a century, there are an enormous number of galaxies we can observe while monitoring for those great explosions.

Currently the brightest supernova is 2020hvf at magnitude 12.4 hosted by galaxy NGC3643 in Leo. Unlike the pretty face-on spiral of M61, this small 14th magnitude galaxy is completely outshone by the supernova. Looking at the image one is struck by the realization that for a week or two that one star is outshining the combined light of the hundreds of billions of other stars that make up an entire galaxy.

NGC3643 with supernova SN2020hvf on the evening of Mar 15, 2020
NGC3643 with supernova SN2020hvf on the evening of Mar 15, 2020