Jkulin Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 I have been quite fortunate with clear skies as I have about 5 or 6 subjects to process, but very little time due to my wife's deteriorating condition, so once she is tucked up for the night I can image away without neglecting her. Makarian's Chain. This has turned out quite well and shows just how many galaxies are in a tiny part of the the universe, I'll upload an annotated image showing just a few of the galaxies, each one containing billions of stars and comparable to our own Galaxy the Milky Way. I captured this over 2 nights with my Esprit 100, Altair Astro 26c, iOptron 40EC, Pegasus UPB, ZWO OAG, Lodestar x2 Guide Camera. A total of 72 x 300s exposures amounting to 6 hours of data. More details here: - https://www.astrobin.com/s14v0v/ As usual here is the bumf for those that like to know a little more: - Markarian's Chain is a stretch of galaxies that forms part of the Virgo Cluster. When viewed from Earth, the galaxies lie along a smoothly curved line. Charles Messier first discovered two of the galaxies, M84 and M86, in 1781. The other galaxies seen in the chain were discovered by William Herschel and are now known primarily by their catalogue numbers in John Louis Emil Dreyer's New General Catalogue, published in 1888. It was ultimately named after the Armenian astrophysicist, Benjamin Markarian, who discovered their common motion in the early 1960s. Member galaxies include M84 (NGC 4374), M86 (NGC 4406), NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435. It is located at RA 12h 27m and Dec +13° 10′. The bright members of the chain are visible through small telescopes. Larger telescopes can be used to view the fainter galaxies. At least seven galaxies in the chain appear to move coherently, although others appear to be superposed by chance. Six of the points on the chain can be marked by galaxies. The other two points are pairs of galaxies. The Virgo Cluster contains over 2,000 galaxies, and has a noticeable gravitational pull on the galaxies of the Local Group of Galaxies surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy. The centre of the Virgo Cluster is located about 70 million light-years away toward the constellation of Virgo. At least seven galaxies in the chain appear to move coherently. This image captures the western end of the chain and features the two large, bright lenticular galaxies, M84 and M86. To the upper left is a pair of interacting galaxies known as The Eyes: NGC 4435 and NGC 4438. Dozens of smaller, fainter galaxies are also captured in this vista covering an area of the sky about twice the size of a full moon. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob-c Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 A lovely picture John, that cam and mount combo are singing for you.👍 I have had some great nights imaging recently too. Will post soon. Bob. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraic M Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 That's a busy piece of sky! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBolt Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Another amazing shot! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkAR Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 Lovely image John, makes you want to get bigger and bigger scope to hunt down the tiddlers one by one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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