Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  IC 3303  ·  IC 3311  ·  IC 3344  ·  IC 3349  ·  IC 3355  ·  IC 3363  ·  IC 3382  ·  IC 3388  ·  IC 3393  ·  IC 794  ·  M 84  ·  M 86  ·  M 87  ·  NGC 4374  ·  NGC 4387  ·  NGC 4388  ·  NGC 4402  ·  NGC 4406  ·  NGC 4407  ·  NGC 4413  ·  NGC 4425  ·  NGC 4431  ·  NGC 4435  ·  NGC 4436  ·  NGC 4438  ·  NGC 4440  ·  NGC 4446  ·  NGC 4447  ·  NGC 4458  ·  NGC 4459  ·  And 11 more.
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Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438), John Favalessa
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Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438)

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438), John Favalessa
Powered byPixInsight

Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438)

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Acquisition details

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Description

I'm fascinated by galaxy groups since I started this advocation. The first time I saw an image of Markarian's Chain on this site I was in awe. This is my first attempt (which was a comedy of my errors). Researching, I found this region is even more interesting than I first imagined. So from Wikipedia: "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 Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435-NGC 4438, also known as Arp 120) are a pair of galaxies about 52 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. The pair are members of the string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain. NGC 4438 is the most curious interacting galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, due to the uncertainty surrounding the energy mechanism that heats the nuclear source; this energy mechanism may be a starburst region, or a black hole-powered active galactic nucleus. NGC 4435 is a barred lenticular galaxy currently interacting with NGC 4438." There's lots more interesting reading there.

My journey with this one: used just a flattener and captured a night of good luminance. Stretched and found out I only got half of NGC4374. Then cloudy. Thinking I'd do a mosaic I was able to only get half of the needed luminance. Integration was a disappointment and unusable...after many different approaches. The moon is now getting in the way, but I decided to go to my dark site anyway as would be clear for one night there (cloudy at home) and use my reducer for wider field and to get more luminance and RGB. Half of what I took was unusable do to passing low clouds, but I finally had enough data to give it a try. Didn't have enough usable luminance so I created synthetic lum for the first time with L R G B channels. Combined the RGB many different ways and liked Pix ChannelCombination the best. I've got to get more disciplined in my work flow. I literally had 38 image icons in my workspace! I want to do a better job on this, but now cloudy and full moon coming.

Comments

Revisions

  • Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438), John Favalessa
    Original
  • Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438), John Favalessa
    B
  • Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438), John Favalessa
    C
  • Final
    Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438), John Favalessa
    D
  • Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438), John Favalessa
    E

B

Description: 3 hours more LRGB from my backyard and a complete reprocess. I'm almost happy with the result!

Uploaded: ...

C

Description: another 3 hours in total of LRGB and reprocessed from scratch. having fun!

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: Tint adjustment (thanks Dan!), tried to smooth background without loosing galaxy's "glow".

Uploaded: ...

E

Description: Turned off PGC in advanced plate solving but kept this just for fun. Some of these are 400+ MLYs away. with a 4" scope!

Uploaded: ...

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4435 & 4438), John Favalessa