Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

Thursday, 3 April 2025 13:50

Monday 7th to Sunday 13th April 2025

I'm going to suggest that you pop outside with your telescope around 9pm on Wednesday 9th. A waxing gibbous Moon will be located towards the south east, with the constellation of Leo "The Lion" above it.

Within the constellation is a group of three galaxies, about 35 million light years away, known as the "Leo Triplet". The members are M65, M66 and NGC3628 and they all have a magnitude of around +10.0 so you are never going to see them with the naked eye!

Identify the star "Chertan" at (what would be) the lion's bottom and then aim your telescope a little down from the star to find the triplet of galaxies.

M65 and M66 will be the faint fuzzy blobs to the right, with the elongated NGC3628 to the left. NGC3628 is sometimes known as the "Hamburger Galaxy" because of its shape, where a thick dust lane crosses the bright centre, resembling a burger sandwiched between two pieces of bun!

Now there will be a lot of light pollution from the Moon that is a little below the triplet, so why am I bothering to suggest taking this opportunity to find the galaxies? Well at the moment, very close to the Hamburger Galaxy is the asteroid known as 8 Flora.

The asteroid will look like a tiny star, with a similar magnitude to the three galaxies. The name "Flora" originates from the Latin goddess of flowers and the "8" identifies it as being the 8th asteroid ever discovered, back in 1847. Would you prefer butter or Flora on your burger?

www.starsoversomerset.com

Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium