Other image sizes:

VIRGO - GALAXY CLUSTER - DEEP FIELD

MARKARIAN'S CHAIN of GALAXIES in VIRGO

About this Image:

During the spring months, the night skies turn to a galactic festival. A veritable parade of galaxies from Ursa Major to Virgo stretches across the northern hemisphere sky. One of the most popular "clusters" of galaxies is in the constellation Virgo, the heart of which is known as the "Markarian's Chain" of galaxies. The chain, named after an Armenian astronomer in the 1970s, consists of giant elliptical galaxies M84 and M86 on the right side and stretches up to the spiral galaxy M88 near the top. Other major galaxies in the image include the huge elliptical M87 at bottom; M89 and M90 at bottom left; and M91 and NGC 4571 at upper left. Of note is the galactic jet streaming out from M89.

The Virgo cluster consists of over 2000 known galaxies, which collectively impact our own Local Galaxy Group. The image above, shows no fewer than a 100 of these galaxies, or perhaps more. How many can you count?

For a star chart showing the region, click <here>.

Location: Texas Star Party, 2006, near Ft. Davis, TX
Date: April 29, 2006
Seeing: 3/10
Transparency: 7/10
Scope/Mount: Tak FSQ-106 and Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG STL-11000 astro CCD camera
Exposure Info: LRGB image - 100:20:15:20 minutes (10 minute subexposures unbinned for luminance; 5 minute subexposure binned for RGB)
Processing Information: Acquistion in CCDSoft. Calibration, Registration, DDP, and color combine in CCDStack. Color balance, levels/curves, sharpening, and noise removal (Astronomy Tools/Pro Digital Software) in Photoshop CS.

Exposure Notes: Dark TSP skies, but not quite as transparent as I've seen it there. Seeing around 3 to 3.5 arc seconds...good enough for wide field refractors but not for long focal length instruments.

Previous Attempts:

The Markarian Chain

Three prominent Messier galaxies can be seen in this shot, M84, M86, and M87, all of which are massive, elliptical galaxies. The rest of the galaxies are part of a cluster of galaxies in Virgo. Most impressive is the chain of galaxies known as Markarian's chain. The chain begins at M84, at the bottom of this image, and curving upwards to the right. How many galaxies are here? Perhaps hundreds and thousands. No fewer than thirty are shown in this image. If it's fuzzy, it's a galaxy!

Location: Texas Star Party 2004 near Fort Davis, Texas
Seeing: 8/10
Transparency: 9/10
Date and Time: May 16, 2003
Equipment: Tak FSQ-106 @ f/5 on Tak NJP mount
Camera: SBIG STL-6303E NABG with integrated filter wheel
Exposure Info: Grayscale, clear luminance, 6 x 10 minutes
Processing Information: Dark frame calibration, deblooming, registration and Sigma combine in MaxIm DL 4. Digital development in MaxIm DL 4. Levels and curves in Photoshop CS.

The Virgo Galaxy Cluster

Anything that is not round is a galaxy! I've counted no fewer than 20 galaxies in this photo. The Virgo area has the largest concentration of galaxies reachable by amateur telescopes. Shown here is the heart of the Virgo cluster known as the Markarian Chain spanning from M88 at the upper left of the picture to M84 in the center.

Location: Texas Star Party 2003 near Fort Davis, Texas
Seeing: 6/10
Transparency: 9/10
Date and Time: May 2, 2003 @ 11:45 PM CST
Equipment: 420mm @ f4 (300mm Nikkor ED lens with TC14B teleconverter) guided with Meade 208xt
Length: Single 45 minute exposure
Film: Kodak E200 slide film pushed one stop to ISO 320
Processing Information: Image is slightly cropped with a levels adjustment and contrast increase. Slight unsharp mask applied.

Exposure Notes: For a 45 minute exposure at f4, this shot didn't achieve the depth that I hoped for, especially considering that I gave the film a one stop push. The lack of blue response with the E200 emulsion is obvious here. In particular, the ellipical galaxies M84, M86, and M87 should be much more saturated and detailed.