Markarian's Chain is a stretch of galaxies that forms part of the **Virgo Cluster**, a large group of galaxies about 50 million light years away from Earth¹²³. It was discovered by **Benjamin Markarian**, a Soviet astrophysicist, who noticed that some of the galaxies in the cluster have a common motion in the early 1960s¹².
Markarian's Chain consists of at least seven galaxies that lie along a smoothly curved line when viewed from Earth¹²³. The brightest members of the chain are M84 and M86, two lenticular galaxies that anchor the chain at its lower end¹²³. Other notable members include NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435¹². NGC 4438 and NGC 4435 are also known as Markarian's Eyes, a pair of interacting galaxies that have been distorted by their mutual gravity¹²³.
Markarian's Chain has an apparent magnitude of about **13** and can be seen with a medium-sized telescope². It appears as a faint string of light near the constellation Virgo². It is best seen from the northern hemisphere during spring months².
Kilde: Samtale med Bing, 18.6.2023
(1) Markarian's Chain - Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markarian%27s_Chain.
(2) Markarian's Chain | Science Mission Directorate.
https://science.nasa.gov/markarians-chain.
(3) APOD: 2021 May 22 - Markarian's Chain - Astronomy Picture of the Day.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210522.html.
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