M95 = NGC3351 ( 10h 44.0m +11°42´, 9.7 mag. )


This impressive barred spiral galaxy in Leo was discovered by Mechain in March 1781 and Messier observed it on the 24th of that month. It displays a bright ring connecting both ends of the bar and faint spiral arms protruding outside of it. M95 is about 26.5 million ly distant and belongs to a small Leo Group of Galaxies including nearby M96 and M105 (and their NGC companions) as well as more distant M65, M66 and NGC3628. M95 can be spotted 1°45' NW of 53 Leonis (see finder chart below).

The above image was taken on April 7, 2002 from Harrowsmith, Ontario. Cookbook 245 LDC CCD camera was used on Celestron Ultima 8 f6.3 telescope autoguided with Cookbook 211 LDC camera on a piggybacked 500mm f8 telephoto lens. It is composed of twenty white images (240 sec. each) as well as cyan, magenta and yellow-filtered exposures (5 x 240 sec. each) processed with AIP4WIN and Corel PhotoPaint 8 software (in Lab color space).

North is to the left.


Map created in Guide 7.0 - 7°45' x 7°45'. North is up.


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© Jan Wisniewski