Leo II (PGC 34176) Dwarf Galaxy
Leo II (PGC 34176) Dwarf Galaxy (or Leo B) is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy (type E0 pec) about 690,000 light-years away in the constellation Leo. It is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way with an apparent of 12 x 11 arcmin and mag 12.6. Leo II is thought to have a core radius of 570 ± 41 lightyears and a tidal radius of 2022 ± 102 lightyears. It was discovered in 1950 by Robert George Harrington and Albert George Wilson, from the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories in California on plates obtained from the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope on Mt. Palomar.
This deep image shows many RR Lyrae and Red Giant Branch type stars of mag 18 to mag 21. North is about 2 o’clock.
[description from Wikipedia]
Details
Telescope:
RCOS 14.5″ f/8
Mount:
ASA DDM85
Camera:
Apogee U16M
Filters:
Astrodon Gen2
Exposure:
LRGB 500:360:220:200 min.
Location:
ROSA Remote Observatories Southern Alps
Author:
© Martin Rusterholz, Astrophotographer
Hello, my name is Martin Rusterholz. I’m a Swiss amateur astrophotographer living near Zurich, the biggest town in Switzerland. My interest in astronomy started when I was 16. At that time, I built my first Newtonian telescope and mount. I studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) which was the only study including at least some aspects of astronomy and astrophysics.
“Looking at the nights sky is an experience touching everybody deeply inside, something common to all human beings independent to the language spoken by the individuals”.
Deep-sky astrophotography is my passion. 