VST’s view of the Leo Triplet and beyond

Triplet of bright galaxies in the constellation of Leo (The Lion), together with a multitude of fainter objects: distant background galaxies and much closer Milky Way stars. The image hints at the power of the VST and OmegaCAM for surveying the extragalactic Universe and for mapping the low brightness objects of the galactic halo. This image is a composite created by combining exposures taken through three different filters. Light that passed through a near-infrared filter was coloured red, light in the red part of the spectrum is coloured green, and green light is coloured magenta.

Credit:

ESO/INAF-VST/OmegaCAM. Acknowledgement: OmegaCen/Astro-WISE/Kapteyn Institute

About the Image

Id:eso1126a
Type:Observation
Release date:27 July 2011, 12:00
Related releases:eso1126
Size:15513 x 12558 px

About the Object

Name:Leo Triplet
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Interacting
Distance:35 million light years
Constellation:Leo
Category:Galaxies

Image Formats

Large JPEG
85.6 MB
Screensize JPEG
163.5 KB

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Wallpapers

1024x768
163.8 KB
1280x1024
259.6 KB
1600x1200
366.7 KB
1920x1200
433.5 KB
2048x1536
586.1 KB

Coordinates

Position (RA):11 19 43.51
Position (Dec):13° 18' 36.77"
Field of view:51.72 x 41.86 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 90.0° left of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Optical
G
480 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM
Optical
R
625 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM
Infrared
I
770 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM