I share with you this shot of mine completed with the collaboration of my friend Luca Dinoi, who oversaw the processing. The famous Leo triplet is portrayed, made up of the three interacting galaxies M66, M65 and NGC3628, connected to each other by a neutral hydrogen halo, which attests to a probable close encounter that took place about 800 million years ago. M66, which sits overhead, is the largest and brightest and is about 35 million light-years from Earth. M65 is instead less luminous, but closer to the Earth, being "only" 22 million light years away. NGC3628 is the least bright of the three, but probably the most distinctive. Due to its peculiar shape it is also called the "Hamburger galaxy". In fact, it appears edge-on, with a long spindle furrowed by a band of dark clouds that divides it in half.

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