Astronomy Adventure – Messier 65 & 66

Virtually all galaxies, with the possible exception or Andromeda, will just look like small fuzzies in a small telescope. From a light-polluted sky, they are nearly impossible to see with just a 114mm scope. Just being able to see anything visually usually requires a perfect night of seeing and averted vision. But they can be captured in a photograph with a long enough exposure. The photos over the next few days will show some of these galaxies, many of which I have not actually seen with my naked eye. The point is not to try and match the fabulous photos that others take with better optics, better cameras, better mounts, and exposure times that can run into hours. With the equipment I have, I can barely get a decent shot with a 15-30 second exposure.

Messier 65 and 66 are two of the famous Leo Triplet. M66 is the brighter of the two galaxies, circled in yellow.

Taken with NightCap Pro. Long Exposure mode, 30.03 second exposure.