New Image: Markarian's Chain and M88

[Juno16]

From Wikipedia:

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 catalog numbers in John Louis Emil Dreyer's New General Catalogue, published in 1888. It was ultimately named after the Soviet 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. Near the center there appear the pair of interacting galaxies NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, about 50 million light-years away, known to some as Markarian's Eyes.

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.

I am so glad that I got the opportunity to image this galaxy chain!!!

Not only to get the chance for some clear skies (5th and 6th clear nights so far this year), but to capture this beautiful sight that has eluded me for the past few years.

I last time that I imaged the “Chain” back in 2019. Just 2 years into the hobby and using a modified Nikon D5300, I just didn’t have enough experience to process the data where it looked presentable.

Two years ago, I attempted this target with my current equipment. Unfortunately, the Chain rises just over a bright led streetlight in my front yard. The house blocks direct light, but the glow extending into the sky above the light was so bad that I couldn’t guide!
Guiding was so bad, I aborted the project. Guiding anywhere else in the sky was fine, so I knew it was that light glow causing the problem.

This week, I tried again. Seeing was really bad along with high thin clouds, so guiding was not good, but I went for it. The target goes into the trees just after the meridian, so I needed more time.
I got that opportunity two night later. Still poor seeing and this time low thin clouds this time, but it worked well enough.

Sharpstar 61 EDPHII (w 0.8FR/FF) at 275mm
ASI 533 MC-P at -10C
Skywatcher HEQ5 (rowan mod)
IDAS LPS D-1 light pollution filter
375 lights at 90 seconds (9:22:30)

I must also say that my inspiration for imaging the Chain was from a visit to the Griffith Observatory several years ago. When I walked downstairs, I was blown away by the wall 20’ x 152’ image of Virgo galaxies on the wall! Beautiful!

I am sure that I will work on the data more. Processing went so quickly, that I feel guilty not spending more time! Very light noise reduction was used. Only mild saturation bumps both to the galaxies and stars.

Thanks for looking!

Jim

[Makuser]

Hi Jim. Wow, this is an amazing image of the Markarian's Chain using your Sharpstar 61 EDPH II telescope, especially on the astrobin site. You have excellent contrast, a superb wide field, and I have never seen so many Messier, NGC, and IC objects in a capture like this before. Thanks for sharing this work and informative text with us on here Jim and you did really great job with this one.

[Juno16]

Hi Jim. Wow, this is an amazing image of the Markarian's Chain using your Sharpstar 61 EDPH II telescope, especially on the astrobin site. You have excellent contrast, a superb wide field, and I have never seen so many Messier, NGC, and IC objects in a capture like this before. Thanks for sharing this work and informative text with us on here Jim and you did really great job with this one.

Thank you Marshall fir your very kind comments!
Yes, there certainly is a lot going on in this field!

[messier 111]

very well done, you can be proud. it's your turn to put it on a wall.
thx.
apod for me .

[Ylem]

Very very nice Jim!!!!

[Juno16]

very well done, you can be proud. it's your turn to put it on a wall.
thx.
apod for me .

Thank you very much for your really nice comments Jean-Yves!

Very very nice Jim!!!!

I really appreciate it Jeff!

[bobharmony]

Very nice framing, Jim, and great detail in all those little fuzzies. The 9+ hours of integration time really shines up the image!

Bob

[MariusD69]

Wonderful image! Very well done, Jim!!

[Benjamin]

Lovely image. Really enjoyed seeing it in detail on Astrobin and would have no idea that conditions were not favourible for this. NGC4438 is particularly cool to see :-)

[bernhardhubl]

Hello Jim,

Beauiful image of Markarians Chain!
Excellent work

best,
Bernhard

[Juno16]

Very nice framing, Jim, and great detail in all those little fuzzies. The 9+ hours of integration time really shines up the image!

Bob

Thanks Bob!
It sure does! A quick stack of the first night (4.5 hours) wasn’t much to look at. I surely needed the second night.
I appreciate your comment on the framing as I was really happy how that turned out.
Yeah, I counted over 50 fuzziin the field, loaded!

Wonderful image! Very well done, Jim!!

Thank you much Marius!

Lovely image. Really enjoyed seeing it in detail on Astrobin and would have no idea that conditions were not favourible for this. NGC4438 is particularly cool to see :-)

The conditions were not what I was hoping for!
I’ve been imaging broadband with the uv/ir cut filter, but with the conditions, I decided to go with the IDAS LPS D-1 to help with the lp. It did help.
Yes, those beautiful “Eyes”. Hopefully, I can get more time on them next year!

Thank you for your very nice comments Benjamin!

Hello Jim,

Beauiful image of Markarians Chain!
Excellent work

best,
Bernhard

Thank you for your nice comments Bernhard!
Much appreciated!

[ic_1101]

That’s a wall hanger for sure Jim! Beautiful detail with nice tight round stars. I love the wide field of your 61EDPH, well done my friend!

[Juno16]

That’s a wall hanger for sure Jim! Beautiful detail with nice tight round stars. I love the wide field of your 61EDPH, well done my friend!

Hi Alex!
I really like my Sharpstar. Not really a galaxy instrument (except of course in this manner), but it is a joy to use and great on nebulae.
Thank you my friend for your really nice words!

[Jockinireland]

Thats a super image Jim. Nicely framed and great processing.

The little Sharpstars are amazing really.

[Juno16]

Thats a super image Jim. Nicely framed and great processing.

The little Sharpstars are amazing really.

Hi David and thank you!
I love my Sharpstar 61!!!
It has really helped me capture some images that I am very pleased with.
I upgraded my desktop computers GPU and this is the first image I’ve processed with it. A Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti that is very mild compared to modern gaming GPU’s, but it really blows through the XTerminator processes.
SXT went from over 4 minutes to 15 seconds!

[Thefatkitty]

Jim, that is absolutely stunning! Such a wide field with so many objects! For poor seeing, you got some great details on all that; even zoomed in it's all still sharp.

Well done and thanks for the share; methinks you deserve an APOD for that!

All the best buddy,

[Greenman]

Amazing work Jim, count the Galaxy time... So much detail first class image. The Sharpstar is earning its living on this one.

[Juno16]

Jim, that is absolutely stunning! Such a wide field with so many objects! For poor seeing, you got some great details on all that; even zoomed in it's all still sharp.

Well done and thanks for the share; methinks you deserve an APOD for that!

All the best buddy,

Hey my old buddy! I can say that because I'm older!

I have wanted to image this field for awhile now. I got a couple of iffy nights last week and was fortunate enough to catch a decent image.
I was happily surprised at the results considering the lp, guiding and thin clouds.
I usually wait for predictively nice nights. Now, I just might start taking more chances!

Been busy with my 20 month old grandson, home projects, and Jack had knee surgery on the 1st so that has definitely kept me busy!

Thank you for your very nice comments my buddy. They are very much appreciated!

Amazing work Jim, count the Galaxy time... So much detail first class image. The Sharpstar is earning its living on this one.

The Sharpstar is a very enjoyable scope to use and has done me well! The 533 is a really nice camera.

Even with the less than ideal conditions, the data was really clean. Super easy processing almost makes me feel guilty for not spending more time on it!

Thanks for your nice words my friend!

Take care and I hope that you can get out soon.

[Gmetric]

Hi Jim. Wow, this is an amazing image of the Markarian's Chain using your Sharpstar 61 EDPH II telescope, especially on the astrobin site. You have excellent contrast, a superb wide field, and I have never seen so many Messier, NGC, and IC objects in a capture like this before. Thanks for sharing this work and informative text with us on here Jim and you did really great job with this one.

He he, Mak gives the best comments. +1 from me on this. A beauty, Jim.

[Gordon]

Congratulations Jim on having your image selected as todays TSS APOD!

https://theskysearchers.com/app.php/art ... of-the-day