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M66

Messier 66
Spiral Galaxy
Right Ascension 11h 20m 15s Best Seen 4/1-7/15
Declination 12° 59' 22" Magnitude 8.4
Constellation Leo

Actual		 Compared
to Milky Way
Distance 35 million ly --
Actual Brightness 20 billions suns --
Diameter ~50,000 ly ~0.5
Mass -- --
Galactic Type Sa Sbc

What To Look For Through The Telescope

  1. Recommended eyepiece: 40mm or 80 mm.

  2. When people look through the telescope they should see a fuzzy patch of light. This is the galaxy. If they are having trouble seeing it, have them look at a star near the edge of the field, then look back to the center out of the corner of their eye.

  3. The view through the telescope will not look like photographs of galaxies they may have seen. A photograph of a galaxy may have an exposure of many hours. This long exposure brings out the spiral arms and other details. Our eyes allow the light to collect for only about 1/30 of a second before they refresh themselves and start over again.

M66 Information

  1. This galaxy was discovered in 1780 by Pierre Méchain. However, Charles Messier didn’t acknowledge his friend’s prior discovery, unlike for most of Méchain’s findings. Messier catalogued it on March 1, 1780.

  2. Three galaxies – M65, M66, and NGC 3628 – are all about 35 million light years away. Together, they are called the Leo Triplett.

  3. M66 is larger than its neighbor, M65.

  4. Three supernovae have occurred in this galaxy: 1973R was discovered December 12, 1973; 1989B was discovered Jan 31, 1989; and 1997bs was discovered April 15, 1997.
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References
Item Updated Notes
Coordinates 2003-01-15 SEDs gives 11 20.2 +12 59
SIMBAD gives 11 20 15 +12 59 22
Distance 2003-01-15 previously said 29-38 million ly
– BUT this OK with
http://messier.seds.org/m/m066.html
Actual Brightness 2003-01-15 can find no support
Diameter 2003-01-15 added “~”: SEDs page says M66 is “considerably larger” than M65,
yet can’t find diameter for M65. This looks good for now.
Mass --
Galactic Type 2003-01-15 OK with SEDs site
Other Information 2003-01-15 previously: “M65 and M66 are about 180,000 light years away from each other.” – BUT, found do direct support, so summarized and added PLEASE NOTE at several places they really DO spell it “Triplett,” instead of “Triplet.”