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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                   2025 March 21   
      
                                   The Leo Trio   
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Rabeea Alkuwari   
      
      Explanation: This popular group leaps into the early evening sky around   
      the March equinox and the northern hemisphere spring. Famous as the Leo   
      Triplet, the three magnificent galaxies found in the prominent   
      constellation Leo gather here in one astronomical field of view. Crowd   
      pleasers when imaged with even modest telescopes, they can be   
      introduced individually as NGC 3628 (bottom left), M66 (middle right),   
      and M65 (top center). All three are large spiral galaxies but tend to   
      look dissimilar, because their galactic disks are tilted at different   
      angles to our line of sight. NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger   
      Galaxy, is temptingly seen edge-on, with obscuring dust lanes cutting   
      across its puffy galactic plane. The disks of M66 and M65 are both   
      inclined enough to show off their spiral structure. Gravitational   
      interactions between galaxies in the group have left telltale signs,   
      including the tidal tails and warped, inflated disk of NGC 3628 and the   
      drawn out spiral arms of M66. This gorgeous view of the region spans   
      over 1 degree (two full moons) on the sky. Captured with a telescope   
      from Sawda Natheel, Qatar, planet Earth, the frame covers over half a   
      million light-years at the Leo Trio's estimated 30 million light-year   
      distance.   
      
                       Tomorrow's picture: one hand clapping   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
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                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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