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A Study of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster - Part 1: The Plan, Timothy Martin

A Study of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster - Part 1: The Plan

A Study of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster - Part 1: The Plan, Timothy Martin

A Study of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster - Part 1: The Plan

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This screen capture from N.I.N.A. shows the targeting plan for our William Optics Z61 scope with ASI2600MC-Pro camera. It took three months, but we managed to get around 100 hours on these panels, so that works out to about five-and-a-half hours per panel, give or take. Processing has begun, and I'll be posting the individual panels as well as the various phases of the mosaic as we churn through this.

In addition to shooting this large mosaic, we homed in on the individual galaxies in the cluster with special attention to the Messier galaxies. Our plan included shooting M49, M58, M59, M60, M61, M84, M85, M86, M87, M88, M89, M90, M91, M98, M99, M100, NGCs 4302 and 4298, NGC 4429, NGC 4435, NGC 4450, NGCs 4567 and 4568, and NGC 4536. Many of these are completed and processed, but we have seven more to go as I post this. I just wanted to get started now because it will take some time to work through all this. I don't want to still be posting galaxies in summer nebula season (well, unless I have some new galaxies to post—they are my favorite, after all).

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