Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  IC 3280  ·  IC 3303  ·  IC 3355  ·  IC 3363  ·  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  ·  The Eyes
The Eyes are looking at M86 and M84, Kurt Zeppetello
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The Eyes are looking at M86 and M84

The Eyes are looking at M86 and M84, Kurt Zeppetello
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The Eyes are looking at M86 and M84

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Description

This gorgeous group of galaxies is located in the constellation of Virgo. Virgo contains a cluster of 2000 galaxies know as the Virgo Cluster. The heart of this galaxy cluster is some 50-70 million light-years making it the closest galaxy cluster to our own Local Group. Not to be confusing but the Local Group and the Virgo Cluster are part of a much larger system named the Virgo Supercluster at 110 million light-years across. This image shows a portion of a string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain, named after Armenian Astronomer Benjamin Markarian.

The two most prominent galaxies, M84 on the left and M86 in the center, are elliptical in nature. The third most prominent feature is a pair of interacting galaxies, NGC 4435 & NGC 4438, aptly named The Eyes (Arp 120). Numerous other galaxies of all types are visible in this image - some showing neat dust lanes and such.

The last time I did Markarian's Chain was three-years ago almost to the day and it was of the whole Chain since I used the smaller telescope, thus the FOV was much larger (Link).

I thought I was being clever looking on Stellarium for things to image with my FOV and deciding to keep this orientation with The Eyes on the right side rather than usual left side. During processing I looked on Astrobin and discovered several people already did this orientation including one by Gary Imm (Link).

Which leads me into the second point, I would have been done with this a few days earlier, however, Gary posted his highly sought after processing outline so I went back as I was not happy with what I originally produced anyway - many thanks to Gary. As a result I finally used deconvolution in PI successfully.

The only regret I have is I really wish I collected more data for this one. You can say that about most images but this one really would have benefited with a few more hours at least. I am happy with how it turned out and it is much better than my image from three years ago.

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