Markarian’s Chain
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 bright members of the chain are visible through small telescopes. Larger telescopes can be used to view the fainter galaxies. Near the center there appear the pair of interacting galaxies NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, about 50 million light-years away, known to some as Markarian’s Eyes.
| Object | Markarian’s Chain |
| Link | |
| Wiki Link | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markarian%27s_Chain |
| Hemisphere | Northern |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Other Names contained in image | M84, NGC 4374, M86, NGC 4406, NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438, NGC 4435 |
| Imaging telescopes or lenses | Takahashi FSQ -106ED4 |
| Imaging cameras | QHY268M |
| Mounts | Software Bisque Paramount MYT |
| Focal reducers | None |
| Software | Software Bisque The Sky X, N.I.N.A., PHD Lab PHD2, Viking, PixInsight, Photoshop, Lightroom |
| Filters | Astrodon LRGB Gen2 E-Series Tru-Balance 36mm unmounted. Chroma Technology Narrowband 3nm Ha, SII, OIII – 36mm Unmounted |
| Accessories | Moonlite NightCrawler 35 focuser, Maxdome II, Digital Loggers Pro Switch, Sky Alert Weather Station, Pegagsus Ultimate Powerbox v2, Starlight Xpress filter wheel, Alnitak Flip-Flat |
| Guiding Telescope or Lenses | Orion 60mm Guide Scope |
| Guiding Camera | ZWO ASI290MM Mini |
| Imaging Dates | 4/6/22 and 4/7/22 |
| Frames | Luminance: 20×300″ (1.6h) Gain 25, Photographic Mode, Temp -25C, Bin 1×1 Red: 12×300″ (1.0h) Gain 25, Photographic Mode, Temp -25C, Bin 1×1 Green: 12×300″ (1.0h) Gain 25, Photographic Mode, Temp -25C, Bin 1×1 Blue:11×300″ (0.9h) Gain 25, Photographic Mode, Temp -25C, Bin 1×1 |
| Integration | 4.6h |
| Darks | 50 |
| Flats | 20 per Filter |
| Flat Darks | 40 |
| Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: | 2 |
| RA center | 186.95487 |
| DEC center | 13.20588 |
| Pixel scale | 3.76 |
| Resolution | 6280 x 4210 |
| Locations | Sirus 3.5m Observatory, Carbondale Colorado |
| Data source | Backyard |
| Seeing | Average |
| Post Processing Techniques | PixInsight to Photoshop to Lightroom |
Markarian’s Chain was last modified: January 23rd, 2023 by