M96
NGC 3368

M96 is a large and bright, barred spiral galaxy in Leo. It is easily visible in an 8" telescope as a circular patch of light with a bright centre. Visible in the same low-power field is the slightly brighter spiral galaxy, M95. Both of these galaxies are outlying members of the Virgo cluster of galaxies.

Combination of 20, 3 minute images using red, green, and blue filters.
SBIG ST-9E CCD camera.
5" f/5 refractor at prime focus.

In the image above, M96 is near the centre of the image. M95 is to the right. The group of 3 galaxies towards the upper left are M105, NGC 3371 and NGC 3389.

Combination of 15, 3 minute exposures, SBIG ST-9E CCD.
16" f/10 schmidt-cassegrain with f/6.3 focal reducer under very poor skies.

Combination of 5, 3 minute images.
SBIG STL-1001E CCD. 20" f/6.8 Dall-Kirkham cassegrain telescope at prime focus.

Combination of 10, 3 minute exposures, SBIG STL-1001E CCD.
16" f/10 schmidt-cassegrain at prime focus.

There are several faint, distant galaxies in the image above. The brightest is the circular blob to the lower right of M96. This is the 16th magnitude PGC 83335. Further to the lower right is the 17th magnitude PGC 83334. To the lower left of M96, a little below a bright star, is the third galaxy in the field with a designation, the 17th magnitude PGC 1398459. The other galaxies in the field have no designations according to The Sky. One interesting feature is the elongated object in the outer spiral arm to the upper left. At this scale it is difficult to tell if it is a feature in the spiral arm or a background galaxy. From looking at DDS images, it appears to be a galaxy.