Leo Triplet’s Smiling Trio: M65, M66 & the Hamburger Galaxy Under a Bright Moon

On the evening of April 22, 2026, I captured the Leo Triplet (M65, M66, and NGC 3628) under less than ideal weather conditions. The session was run with my trusted setup, that includes the Explore Scientific ED80 CF APO on an equatorial mount (Juwei 17), the ZWO ASI533MC-PRO with a light pollution filter (the Optolong L-Pro) and N.I.N.A. on a Mele Quieter 4c Mini PC, for full automation of the acquisition. Despite a bright Moon washing out the sky and not-so-good transparency, the data turned out surprisingly nice.

I managed a total integration time of 90 minutes with relatively short subs (45×120 s) to keep the background under control given the bright sky.

The result is not as detailed as I’d hoped, but it’s still quite good for only 90 minutes of integration under a bright Moon. The triplet pops nicely, with the Hamburger Galaxy (NGC 3628) dust lane and the warped arms of M65 and M66 clearly visible.

I especially love the “smiling face” appearance of this trio, with the three galaxies arranged in such a pleasing arc across the frame.