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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.   
      
                                   2024 March 21   
      
                                   The Leo Trio   
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Steve Cannistra   
      
      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 (left), M66 (bottom right), and M65   
      (top). 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 in a frame that covers over half a million   
      light-years at the trio's estimated distance of 30 million light-years.   
      
                        Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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