This image shows three galaxies that are located about 35 million light years from our Milky Way Galaxy in the direction of the constellation of Leo.

At top is a galaxy seen from the side known as NGC 3628. At the lower left is M 66 and M 65 is on the lower right. These galaxies are physically together in space, pulling on each other gravitationally. Eventually they are likely to merge.

This image is a composite from two black and white images taken with the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. The images were recorded on two glass photographic plates - one sensitive to blue light and one to red. The plates were scanned and color combined to produce the image seen here.

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