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Located just
.3 degrees due north of the brilliant first magnitude star Regulus
- the brightest star in Leo, this very dim Local Group member
is an outlier to the Milky way galaxy, just beyond the Magellenic
Clouds. Known also as UGC5470, this very low surface brightness
object spans 10 arcminutes in size - the same apparent size of
the great Hercules globular cluster, but is a very dim and spread
out 11.2 magnitude. Classified as an E3 elliptical galaxy, its
brightest stars are 18.5 magnitude, with most much fainter. It
was a pleasant surprise that I was able to record stars all across
the face of this enigmatic object, seen well in the larger images.
The brilliant B7
star at the bottom is of course Regulus, 1.4th magnitude and
greatly overexposed here. Attempts shooting this pair with the
CCD always were very disappointing, due to the huge blooms I
got from Regulus obscuring everything in the field. Here, the
DSLR is supreme for this object and focal length.
Hordes of other
smaller galaxies occupy this 1.5 degree wide field. The brightest
is right of Leo I, IC591. It is 14.1 magnitude, a tiny spiral
at 1.3 arc minutes in size. The tiny yellowish galaxy to its
lower right is 15th magnitude, and much more distant.
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