Messier Objects - M66

There is one item from my observatory trip that I have not yet logged.  Unfortunately, the weather has been dismal for astronomy and I have no further records to post after this.  I really would like the sky to clear this week to get a good look at some craters during first quarter.

Messier 66 is the brightest object in the Leo Triplet.  It is a galaxy that is located approximately 36 million light years away.  It was discovered back in 1780 by Charles Messier during his relentless search for comets.  Messier 65 and 66 were discovered on the same evening since they fit within the same field of view in most eyepieces.  It is interesting to note that back in 1773 a comet passed between the two galaxies and Messier did not see them due to the overriding brightness from the comet.  The asymmetry of the spiral arms was a result of a previous gravitational interaction with the other member of the triplet: NGC 3628.

I first located this galaxy at the same time as M65.  I aimed my red dot finder at a location between Theta and Iota Leonis and moved my telescope around until I saw two fuzzy patches of light.  There was a checkmark shaped asterism in the center of the field of view that I used to identify the two galaxies.  The long end of the checkmark pointed directly to M66.  It seemed rounder and brighter than its partner M65.  It was such a beautiful sight seeing two full galaxies in the same field of view.  The record below logs my observation.

M66 Observation Record

Again, as with the poor weather I was unable to setup for a good photograph.  The wind looks ferocious and the sky cloudy this evening.  We are forecast to have our first >20°C day this week and hopefully the sky will be clear.  It is getting more difficult to image the sky at a reasonable time of evening since the Sun now sets at 9pm.  The image below is a picture of Messier 66 with the credit given in the caption.

Messier 66 (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Kennicutt (University of Arizona) and the SINGS Team)

For those of you who live in southeast Calgary come to the astronomy event at Ralph Klein Park this Saturday.  There will be some great lectures and many telescopes setup.  Enjoy the urban wetland park before the bugs come out!  For more details see the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/414835662224816/