If you look closely at your images, you can often see structures that were a bit unexpected. In this case it was an apparent light cloud just to the right of NGC4438/4435, what we call the Eyes of Markarian's Chain. Sometimes we ignore these, or even worse, try to process them out of the image. A better approach is to do a little research and learn more about that unexpected. The entire area around the Eyes is presented as a stretched inverse to emphasize that region.
There is some dispute as to what those faint clouds are. All of this was discussed in a published article. Here is the reference.
Diffuse far-infrared and ultraviolet emission in the NGC 4435/4438 system: tidal stream or Galactic cirrus?It's an interesting article and not a long read. In any case, hear it what the authors concluded.
However, our analysis reveals that the dynamics, morphology, gas and dust content of this stream are more consistent with what is observed in Galactic cirrus clouds than in tidal features associated with cluster galaxies. Whatever its real origin, this stream is a fascinating object and it clearly highlights how difficult it is to discriminate between Galactic clouds and extragalactic diffuse light.I also included a graphic from the article that shows this dusty region at various wavelengths. In any case, read the article and draw your own conclusions.
Comments