On the night of March 20, 2021 I wanted to see if I could get all three galaxies of the Leo Triplet in the eyepiece. I was easily able to spot M65 and M66, and I spent quite a while trying to get a glimpse of NGC3628 but I had no luck in resolving this galaxy. All 3 galaxies are around 9th to 10th magnitude so I'm not completely sure as to why NGC3628 was not visible, but I can only assume it has something to do with it's size and surface brightness. Both M65 and M66 are intermediate spiral galaxies that have their structures disturbed by forces put on them by NGC3628. M65 is at an oblique angle, but not quite an edge on spiral galaxy, and M66 is more disc shaped with a central bar and loosely shaped arms.
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| Sketch of M65 and M66 in the constellation Leo |
This sketch was done on black canson paper with a white charcoal pencil, a white pastel pencil, a blending stump, and both a regular eraser and a kneaded eraser.
If you'd like to see where these objects are located in the night sky along with a time lapse of this sketch being done at the eyepiece be sure to check out the video below:
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