Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  HD108613  ·  IC 3280  ·  IC 3303  ·  IC 3344  ·  IC 3349  ·  IC 3355  ·  IC 3363  ·  IC 3382  ·  IC 3388  ·  IC 3393  ·  M 84  ·  M 86  ·  NGC 4374  ·  NGC 4387  ·  NGC 4388  ·  NGC 4402  ·  NGC 4406  ·  NGC 4407  ·  NGC 4413  ·  NGC 4425  ·  NGC 4435  ·  NGC 4438  ·  NGC 4446  ·  NGC 4447  ·  NGC 4458  ·  NGC 4459  ·  NGC 4461  ·  NGC 4468  ·  NGC 4473  ·  NGC 4474  ·  And 3 more.
Markarian's Chain (and friends), marter
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Markarian's Chain (and friends)

Markarian's Chain (and friends), marter
Powered byPixInsight

Markarian's Chain (and friends)

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Description

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. 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.

This image was acquired in my bortle 6/7 backyard over 3 nights in April of 2023. The session was managed by NINA and processed in Pixinsight.

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Markarian's Chain (and friends), marter