Russell Croman Astrophotography  

 

 

The Leo I Dwarf Galaxy


About This Photograph

Located only a third of a degree away from one of the brightest stars in the sky we find a celestial oddball. Leo I is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, so named for its small size and oblong shape. At a distance of 900,000 light years, it is thought to be the furthest of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies (i.e., it is in orbit around our galaxy).

The exceedingly bright star in the upper left is Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo. It is actually a triple star system. Both companion stars are visible in this photograph. Locate the two somewhat orange stars to the upper-right of Regulus. This system lies at a distance of about 77.5 light years from Earth. Regulus is much more massive than the sun, and is thus much hotter, giving it its bluish color.

Click here to return to the photograph.

 

Related Photographs

Globular Cluster NGC 6366
 

Technical Details

Optics:20" f/8 RCOS Ritchey-Chrétien Cassegrain
Camera:SBIG STL-11000M, FLI CFW-7
Mount:Software Bisque Paramount ME
Filters:SBIG Standard LRGB
Dates/Times:25-26 May 2006
Location:Dimension Point Observatory, Mayhill, New Mexico
Exposure Details:LRGB = 60:20:10:20 minutes
Acquisition:MaxIm DL/CCD 4, TheSky6, CCDAutoPilot2
Processing:CCDStack, Photoshop CS2

 

Publication Data for this Photograph

Date Publication Type
2006-06-19 NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Web Site
2007-01-29 Bangor Daily News,
p. 1
Newspaper
2006-10-00 A Very Theta Christmas,
Cover
Album