This color composite is from B and I images (with synthetic V) taken during twilight with a Tektronix 2048x2048 CCD at the prime focus of the 4-meter Mayall telescope of Kitt Peak National Observatory. North is at the top and east to the left, for direct comparison with a chart or eyepiece view. The image has been block-averaged to 512x512 for this presentation, which uses a logarithmic intensity transformation to preserve information across a wide dynamic range. The field is 7.1 arcminutes square. A few of the brighter field stars saturated the CCD so strongly that some of the electric charge bled along columns, giving the vertical streaks from several stars. I left the sky a bit darker than usual in this image, to hide the dark blotch in the B image left over when a moth worked its way into the filter wheel; insects don't flat-field very well while still alive and flapping inside the camera.
The pair NGC 3623/7 (M65/66) is well shown in context in this red-light CCD image obtained with UA's 0.4-meter telescope:
And in wider context as part of the "Leo Triplet" along with the edge-on starburst spiral NGC 3628, in this image from the University of Alabama Crimson Dragon wide-field imaging system deployed on Kitt Peak:
Last changes: 9/2018 © 2001-2018