Messier 65 (M65) is an intermediate spiral galaxy located approximately 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It is part of the Leo Triplet, a group of three interacting galaxies that also includes Messier 66 (M66) and NGC 3628.
The galaxy has a prominent central bulge with tightly wound spiral arms containing dust lanes and scattered blue star-forming regions.
These blue regions, visible along the spiral arms, indicate areas of recent star formation where young, hot stars illuminate the surrounding gas.
M65 appears relatively undisturbed compared to its neighbors, though there is some evidence of past gravitational interactions within the triplet.
M65 has an apparent size of about 8.7 × 2.5 arcminutes and an apparent magnitude of 10.25, making it visible in moderate-sized telescopes.
Its reddish dust lanes contrast with the bright, older stellar population concentrated in the core, while the blue star-forming regions highlight ongoing stellar birth in the spiral arms.
Imaged in LRGB on my Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image acquisition and processing: Mike Selby