Spiral Galaxy M66 in the Lion - Spiral galaxy M66 in Leo - M66 (NGC...

Spiral Galaxy M66 in the Lion - Spiral galaxy M66 in Leo - M66 (NGC 3627) is a spiral galaxy located at a distance of about 35 million years - light. M66, with its neighbors M65 and NGC 3628, forms a remarkable triplet of galaxies, called the Lion Triplet or the M66 Group. Image obtained at the VLT in December 2001. NGC 3627, also known as Messier 66, is a beautiful spiral with a well - developed central bulge. It also displays large - scale dust lanes. Many regions of warm hydrogen gas are seen throughout the disc of this galaxy. The latter regions are being ionised by radiation from clusters of newborn stars. Very active star - formation is most likely also occurring in the nuclear regions of NGC 3627.The galaxy forms, together with its neighbours M 65 and NGC 3628, the so - called “Leo Triplet””; they are located at a distance of about 35 million light - years. M 66 is the largest of the three. Its spiral arms appear distorted and displaced above the main plane of the galaxy. The asymmetric appearance is most likely due to gravitational interaction with its neighbours. This image was taken on 16 - 18 December 2001 with the VLT