The Lion’s Galaxy Triplet
LEO WAS THE FIRST CONSTELLATION my dad pointed out to me when I was very young.
As he held me in his arms with my older sister standing at his side, he tried to show us which stars belong to Leo, the Lion. Almost instantly, my three-year-old brain began panicking at the idea of a wild animal in the sky. My father tried to calm me by saying they’re not real animals — and then proceeded to point out other constellations that represented animals. Now I was really scared.
I was carrying on so much that my sister was starting to wonder if she should be afraid, too. Dad promptly took us inside, to the safety of the house, all the while reassuring us that the animals in the sky were just make-believe. Once we were back indoors, he managed to gently calm us down.
This early memory, possibly my first, left its mark. Even now, that long-ago night comes to mind while star-hopping through Leo to one of my favourite telescopic sights, the three galaxies of the Leo Triplet.
The trio in Leo
Finding the Triplet, which is located about 2° south-southeast of the star Theta (θ) Leonis and almost halfway along a nearly straight line from Theta to Iota (ι) Leonis, is pretty straightforward. But even though all
