Markarian's Chain (Jim Raskett)

Markarian's Chain

From Wikipedia:
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 other galaxies seen in the chain were discovered by William Herschel and are now known primarily by their catalog numbers in John Louis Emil Dreyer's New General Catalogue, published in 1888. It was ultimately named after the Soviet astrophysicist, Benjamin Markarian, who discovered their common motion in the early 1960s. Member galaxies include M84 (NGC 4374), M86 (NGC 4406), NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435. It is located at RA 12h 27m and Dec +13° 10′.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.At least seven galaxies in the chain appear to move coherently, although others appear to be superposed by chance. Six of the points on the chain can be marked by galaxies. The other two points are pairs of galaxies.

I am so glad that I got the opportunity to image this galaxy chain!!!
Not only to get the chance for some clear skies (5th and 6th clear nights so far this year), but to capture this beautiful sight!
I last imaged the “Chain” back in 2019. Just 2 years into the hobby and using a modified Nikon D5300. I just didn’t have enough experience to process the data whereas it looked presentable.Two years ago, I attempted this target with my current equipment. Unfortunately, the Chain rises just over a bright led streetlight in my front yard. The house blocks direct light, but the glow extending into the sky above the light was so bad my last attempt that I couldn’t guide!
Guiding was so bad, I aborted the project. Guiding anywhere else in the sky was fine, so I knew it was that light glow causing the problem.This week, I tried again. Seeing was really bad along with high thin clouds, so guiding was not good, but I went for it. The target goes into the trees just after the meridian, so I needed more time.
I got that opportunity two night later. Still poor seeing and this time low thin clouds, but it worked well enough.

Another reason for imaging this target is when I visited the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California several years ago and saw the huge image on the wall of Markarian's Chain. The exhibit is called "The Big Picture". The view in the observatory was very familiar to me and took my breath away!
I am sure that I will work on the data more. Processing went so quickly, that I feel guilty not spending more time! Only very light noise reduction was used. Only mild saturation bumps both to the galaxies and stars.

Thanks for looking!
Jim

Original
Final
D

D

Description: A bit more color and sharpness.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7401476
PixInsight job	88OT5DQ5AN3MNU4UR9NHR4Y6RTMN73AS
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	12h28m25s.88
RA (top/left)	12h33m08s.100
RA (top/right)	12h23m30s.78
RA (bottom/right)	12h23m44s.92
RA (bottom/left)	12h33m18s.19

Dec (center)	+13°24′53″.2
Dec (top/left)	+14°36′11″.6
Dec (top/right)	+14°33′32″.2
Dec (bottom/right)	+12°13′10″.5
Dec (bottom/left)	+12°15′53″.3

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