Catch Flora crossing the Leo Triplet

How to photograph the asteroid’s passage to best effect – and avoid the Moon

There are lots of asteroids and lots of deep-sky objects. However, despite some of the latter being relatively large in size, events where asteroids pass in front of deep-sky objects are relatively infrequent. But this month, 8 Flora will appear to pass through the three galaxies that form the Leo Triplet. The Triplet includes M65, M66 and NGC 3628, which have integrated magnitudes of +9.3, +9.0 and +9.4, respectively. Bright though this seems, it is surface brightness that matters – how the light is spread over the apparent area of each galaxy. The respective values of surface brightness for the Triplet are +12.9, +12.8 and +13.5 magnitude per square arcminute. Flora’s passage through the Triplet isn’t a perfect pass and will miss M65 and M66 completely. However, it will pass…

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BBC Sky at Night United Kingdom (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2025

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