Virgo Galaxies (Hap Griffin)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Virgo (Vir) · Contains: Coma Pinwheel · M 58 · M 84 · M 86 · M 87 · M 88 · M 89 · M 90 · M 91 · M 99 · NGC 4254 · NGC 4302 · NGC 4374 · NGC 4388 · NGC 4406 · NGC 4438 · NGC 4459 · NGC 4473 · NGC 4486 · NGC 4501 · NGC 4548 · NGC 4552 · NGC 4569 · NGC 4579 · Virgo Cluster Pinwheel · Virgo Galaxy

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Virgo Galaxies

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Virgo Galaxies

This is a wide field image of a section of the constellation Virgo. The group of galaxies in the center is called Markarian's Chain. During the Summer and Winter months, in the early evenings we are looking through and close to the plane of our own galaxy (the Milky Way) and due to the density of dust and gas clouds, along with the density of stars, our view of intergalactic space is limited. However, in a period in Spring, our early evening view of the sky is at right angles to the plane of our galaxy and we have a clear window to infinity. We call this the Season of the Galaxies, since during this period, we can easily see millions of light years to catch a glimpse of hundreds of thousands of distant galaxies similar to our own.

In this image, virtually every point of light that you see that isn't a sharp point is a distant galaxy. Most of the ones near the center are part of the "Virgo Cluster" and lie at distances between 40 and 50 million light years. The smaller ones lie even farther. Keep in mind when you look at such an image that each of these galaxies is a swarm of several hundred billion suns...most with their own planetary systems. Out of the trillions of potential planetary systems in just a patch of sky such as this, think of the possible number of planets with life on them. When I look into deep space such as this, I wonder how many eyes are looking back, wondering the same thing.

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6365051
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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Virgo Galaxies

Virgo Galaxies

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Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

Virgo Galaxies

Virgo Galaxies

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

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Sky plot

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