Another mono image, this time of the famous Markarian's chain in Virgo. Located 50-55 mLY away, at top and centre are the two giant ellipticals discovered by Messier in 1781, but Herschel had 'the eyes' (and the instrument) to visualise the other 6 main galaxies in this famous chain. Markarian was an Armenian astrophysicist who described their proper motion in 1960s.
With better framing I could have added a few more to the end. The starburst activity can be seen in 'the eyes' with NGC 4435 tearing a star stream away from NGC 4438. Another pair which look as though they ought to be interacting (and at just 7000 LY apart) are NGC 4302 and 4298 - these two are inclined at very different angles, which is clear in my image, and their detail wonderfully illustrated by
Hubble in a 27th anniversary year image.
Taken in luminance - with a Svony UV/IR filter covering the small CCD sensor and Baader clear glass filter to make par-focal and reach focus. 60s exposure were sufficient to avoid totally blowing out the cores. I have stretched these a bit to show up some more detail and boost contrast. I may add a little colour data in due course, but rather like the 'extra detail' I sometimes see in mono images. It has been good to get a few projects up and running with some clearer skies.
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