Leo Triplet | |
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The Leo Triplet, with M65 (right top), M66 (right bottom) and NGC 3628 (left). North is to the left. |
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Observation data (Epoch J2000) | |
Constellation(s) | Leo |
Right ascension | 11h 17m[1][2] |
Declination | +13° 25′[1][2] |
Number of galaxies | 3-5[1][2][3] |
Brightest member | M66[1][2] |
Other designations | |
M66 Group, Arp 317,[4] LGG 231,[1] NOGG P1 533,[2] NOGG P2 543[2] |
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See also: Galaxy groups and clusters, List of galaxy clusters | |
The Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away[5] in the constellation Leo. This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxies M65, the M66, and the NGC 3628.
Contents |
The table below lists galaxies that have been consistently identified as group members in the Nearby Galaxies Catalog,[3] the Lyons Groups of Galaxies (LGG) Catalog,[1] and the group lists created from the Nearby Optical Galaxy sample of Giuricin et al.[2]
Name | Type[6] | R.A. (J2000)[6] | Dec. (J2000)[6] | Redshift (km/s)[6] | Apparent Magnitude[6] |
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M65 | SAB(rs)a | 11h 18m 56.0s | +13° 05′ 32″ | 807 ± 3 | 10.3 |
M66 | SAB(s)b | 11h 20m 15.0s | +12° 59′ 30″ | 727 ± 3 | 9.7 |
NGC 3628 | SAb pec | 11h 20m 17.0s | +13° 35′ 23″ | 843 ± 1 | 9.4 |
Additionally, some of the references cited above indicate that one or two other nearby galaxies may be group members. NGC 3593 is frequently but not consistently identified as a member of this group.
The M96 Group is located physically near the Leo Triplet.[7] These two groups may actually be separate parts of a much larger group,[7] and some group identification algorithms actually identify the Leo Triplet as part of the M96 Group.[2][8]