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 Markarian's Chain of Galaxies 
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NGC4438/4435




About:
Across the heart of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies lies a striking string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain. The chain, pictured above, is highlighted on the right with two large but featureless lenticular galaxies, M84 and M86. Prominent to their lower left is a pair of interacting galaxies known as The Eyes. The home Virgo Cluster is the nearest cluster of galaxies, contains over 2000 galaxies, and has a noticeable gravitational pull on the galaxies of the Local Group of Galaxies surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy. The center of the Virgo Cluster is located about 70 million light years away toward the constellation of Virgo. At least seven galaxies in the chain appear to move coherently, although others appear to be superposed by chance. [Text from APOD]



Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106EDXIII F/3.6 383mm. - APO Refractor
Mount: AP Mach1 GTO
Camera: QSI-683WSG
Filters: Astrodon E Series Gen II LRGB 31mm
Guiding Systems: SX Lodestar
Dates/Times: 15 March 2013
Location: Porliod - Aosta - Italy
Exposure Details: L:R:G:B => 180:40:40:40 = > (18x10):(4x10):(4x10):(4x10) All Bin1 [num x minutes]
Cooling Details: -35 °C
Acquisition: Voyager, Maxim DL/CCD, TheSkyX
Processing: CCDStack2+, PixInsight, PS CS5
Mean FWHM: 3.10
SQM-L: 21.12
Note: In the final image I found the traces left by at least 12 asteroids, I decided to not remove them. In the full resolution version, can be identified with a little patience..