Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  IC 3157  ·  IC 3209  ·  IC 3238  ·  IC 3239  ·  IC 3244  ·  IC 3258  ·  IC 3280  ·  IC 3303  ·  IC 3305  ·  IC 3311  ·  IC 3327  ·  IC 3331  ·  IC 3344  ·  IC 3349  ·  IC 3355  ·  IC 3356  ·  IC 3358  ·  IC 3363  ·  IC 3381  ·  IC 3382  ·  IC 3388  ·  IC 3393  ·  IC 3409  ·  IC 3432  ·  IC 3442  ·  IC 3443  ·  IC 3446  ·  IC 3453  ·  IC 3457  ·  IC 3459  ·  And 78 more.
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Markarian's "Ball & Chain" - mosaic galactic delight, Barry Wilson
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Markarian's "Ball & Chain" - mosaic galactic delight

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Markarian's "Ball & Chain" - mosaic galactic delight, Barry Wilson
Powered byPixInsight

Markarian's "Ball & Chain" - mosaic galactic delight

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Description

The completed LRGB 8 panel mosaic of this celebrated galactic chain in Virgo. Olly Penrice coined the label "Ball and Chain" for the circular pattern and linking 'chain' - quite apt.

This project has been the most ambitious mosaic Steve and I have entertained and its completion became a race with diminishing altitude, moonlight and turbulent Spring weather patterns as we persevered between 28th March and 9th June to collect the data. The final subs being collected when barely 30 degrees altitude.

Nevertheless the clarity of detail in the galaxies is worth studying in high resolution - I am continuing to be amazed at the sharp optics of the FSQ106; it is a great combination with the KAF8300.

Processing was a challenge with seemingly endless calibration (!) and then tweaking of backgrounds. The final .XISF file size in PixInsight was 1.2 Gb and the project took 30 minutes to save, amounting to some 48 Gb (and this is with a two year old 27" iMac). There is almost 60 hours of data integration. The jpeg I uploaded is a shade over 11 Mb so a high resolution tour should reveal some good structure. Enjoy!

Data acquisition: Barry Wilson & Steve Milne

Processing: Barry Wilson

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Markarian's "Ball & Chain" - mosaic galactic delight, Barry Wilson