Markarian's Chain of Galaxies

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

The Leo Trio

The Leo Trio of Galaxies - M65, M66, and NGC 3628

In the image above, M65 is the oblique spiral in the upper right, M66 is below, and NGC 3628 is the edge-on spiral to the left. Notice the faint trail of dust extending below and to the left of this galaxy. The cluster is quite easy to find between the Theta and Iota stars in Leo. These bright galaxies can be detected in dark sky using binoculars and any telescope. The galaxies are close enough that strong gravitational interactions are visible such as the inflated disk of NGC 3628 and the distorted spiral arms of M66. The group's distance from earth is estimated to be 30 million light-years. M65 and M66 were discovered by Mechain in March 1780 when they were also catalogued by Messier.

Takahashi Epsilon180 astrograph (f/2.8); SBIG ST-8300M (-15 C); LRGB with Baader filters (Luminance 300"x5 (1x1 binned) and RGB 300"x3 (2x2 binned)); Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2M; CCDSoft, MaxIm DL5 and Photoshop CS4, Kent, OH, March 21, 2012

M108 - A Barred Spiral Galaxy

Cropped image

M108 - A Barred Spiral Galaxy

M108 is a nearly edge-on galaxy with no apparent central bulge or core. It is however rich in mottled, obscuring dust along its major axis. There is little evidence for a well-defined spiral structure. This member of a loose galaxy association called the Ursa Major cloud, lies about 45 million light years away and is receding at 772 km/sec. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 and observed by Charles Messier shortly thereafter. However, it wasn't officially published and was re-discovered by William Herschel in 1789. Finally, Owen Gingerich added the galaxy to Messier's catalog in 1953 after consideration of Messier's notes and correspondence with Méchain.

Takahashi Epsilon180 astrograph (f/2.8); SBIG ST-8300M (-15 C); LRGB with Baader filters (Luminance 300"x5 (1x1 binned) and RGB 300"x3 (2x2 binned)); Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2M; CCDSoft, MaxIm DL5 and Photoshop CS4, Kent, OH, March 21, 2012

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

Cropped image

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

M51 (NGC 5194) is the spiral galaxy on the left. NGC 5195 is the galaxy on the right. In South Korea, it's called a father & son galaxy since it looks like they hold their hands. Does it make sense? The M51 is located in Canes Venatici, which is one of famous beautiful galaxies. It was discovered by Messier in October 1773 and catalogued by him in January 1774. Its companion galaxy, NGC 5195,  also was discovered in 1781 by Messier's colleague, P. Mechain. These two galaxies are one of the most famous interacting galaxy pairs. Finally, they will merge, showing a single large galaxy one day.

It's been a while since I did astrophotography in November I guess. This image is the first one I had taken with the latest configuration in my current place Kent. It is an LRGB composite (Baader filters) CCD image taken with a Takahashi Epsilon-180 astrograph using an SBIG ST-8300M CCD (-15 C). I just confirmed this is one of super fast OTAs ever. The weather condition was a little humid and windy, but it worked fine. Takahashi Epsilon180 astrograph (f/2.8); SBIG ST-8300M (Luminance 300"x5 (1x1 binned) and RGB 300"x3 (2x2 binned)); Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2M; CCDSoft, MaxIm DL5 and Photoshop CS4, Kent, OH, March 21, 2012

M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy

M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy (NGC 5457)

The Pinwheel Galaxy is an Sc-type spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It is a relatively large galaxy compared to our galaxy. As a side note, a Type Ia supernova, SN 2011fe, was discovered in M101 on 24 August 2011. I know a lot of people trying to image a change in the brightness of it. The supernova was visual magnitude 17.2 at discovery and reached magnitude 9.9 at its peak It was amazing phenomena!

This image was obtained on 24 May 2010 using a TEC140 f/7 refractor and a SBIG ST-8XE CCD camera with a luminance filter. The total exposure time was 20 minutes, 5-minute subexposures.

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy

M31 (NGC 224) - The Andromeda Galaxy w/ satellite galaxies M110 (left) and M32 (right) in Andromeda


Vixen AX103S F/8 refractor w/ 0.7x focal reducer 825 to 578mm (f/5.6); SBIG ST-8300C (1x1 bin, 1200s x 4); Takahashi EM-11 Temma 2M; CCDSoft, MaxIm DL5 and Photoshop CS4, Toledo, OH, Oct 24, 2011