Markarian's Chain of Galaxies – The heart of the Virgo
Across the heart of the Virgo, cluster of galaxies lies a striking string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain. The image is highlighted on the center with two large but featureless lenticular galaxies, M84 & M86. Prominent to their lower left is a pair of interacting galaxies known as The Eyes. The Virgo Cluster has more than 2k galaxies. The center of the Virgo Cluster is located about 70 million light years away toward the constellation of Virgo.
Takahashi Epsilon180 astrograph (f/2.8); SBIG ST-8300M (-15 C); LRGB with Baader filters (Luminance 5x6 (1x1 binned) and RGB 5x3 (2x2 binned)); Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2M; CCDSoft, MaxIm DL5 and Photoshop CS4, Kent, OH, May 11, 2012
