Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  IC 3311  ·  M 84  ·  M 86  ·  M 87  ·  NGC 4374  ·  NGC 4388  ·  NGC 4402  ·  NGC 4406  ·  NGC 4413  ·  NGC 4425  ·  NGC 4435  ·  NGC 4438  ·  NGC 4459  ·  NGC 4461  ·  NGC 4473  ·  NGC 4474  ·  NGC 4477  ·  NGC 4486  ·  The Eyes
Markarian's Chain, Prabhakar
Markarian's Chain
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Markarian's Chain

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Description

Markarian's Chain is a stretch of galaxies that forms part of the Virgo Cluster. It is called a chain because, when viewed from Earth, the galaxies lie along a smoothly curved line. It was named after the Armenian astrophysicist, B. E. Markarian, who discovered their common motion in the early 1960s.

The chain, pictured above, is highlighted on the upper right with two large but featureless lenticular galaxies, M84 and M86, and connects to the large spiral on the lower left, M88. Prominent on the lower right but not part of Markarian's Chain is the giant elliptical galaxy M87. The home Virgo Cluster is the nearest cluster of galaxies, contains over 2000 galaxies, and has a noticeable gravitational pull on the galaxies of the Local Group of Galaxies surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy. The center of the Virgo Cluster is located about 70 million light years away toward the constellation of Virgo.

Member galaxies include M84 (NGC 4374), M86 (NGC 4406), NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435. It is located at RA 12h 27m and Dec +13° 10′.

At least seven galaxies in the chain appear to move coherently, although others appear to be superposed by chance.

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Captured from South Florida.

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Markarian's Chain, Prabhakar