Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  IC 3280  ·  IC 3303  ·  IC 3311  ·  IC 3344  ·  IC 3349  ·  IC 3355  ·  IC 3363  ·  M 84  ·  M 86  ·  NGC 4374  ·  NGC 4387  ·  NGC 4388  ·  NGC 4402  ·  NGC 4406  ·  NGC 4407  ·  NGC 4413  ·  NGC 4425  ·  NGC 4431  ·  NGC 4435  ·  NGC 4436  ·  NGC 4438  ·  NGC 4440  ·  The Eyes
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M86 & Markarian's Chain, Jerry Gerber
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M86 & Markarian's Chain

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M86 & Markarian's Chain, Jerry Gerber
Powered byPixInsight

M86 & Markarian's Chain

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Description

Given the windy and foggy conditions of San Francisco, it's a miracle if I can get a few hours of imaging in once in a while.  Getting 20 hour exposures is out of the question here as there are rarely more than 1 or 2 consecutive nights where imaging is feasible.  I'm  not complaining, just recognizing the facts of where I live.  No wonder I am most likely going to go ahead with remote imaging.  Dark skies are becoming like silver and gold, highly valuable and an increasingly rare "commodity".  Of course in a culture that values wisdom and nature, dark sky preserves would also be growing in number worldwide.  Let's hope they do.

In this rather below average image I've counted at least 18 galaxies.  I consider it a work-in-progress as two hours in a Bortle 7 site with an OSC camera under windy conditions is not going to satisfy my evolving standards of what constitutes a good astrophotograph.

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M86 & Markarian's Chain, Jerry Gerber