[Lvas] Markarian's Chain

[Jim Gianoulakis]

I captured this image this evening from my backyard and wanted to
share.
 
Jim Gianoulakis
Manager Application Services Mobile
702-876-7093
702-253-7213 fax
jim.gianoulakis at swgas.com 

>>> Fred Rayworth <rayworth1969 at hotmail.com> 3/29/2009 12:37 PM >>>
All,
 
My final input for Roger's observing project is to see if I could see
all nine galaxies aroud M-84 and M-86, which is a large part of
Markarian's Chain in Virgo, the realm of galaxies.
 
Virgo was high enough in the sky to take a crack at it, and with a
little zap of my green laser finder, I had this group in the field of
view in an instant.
 
I had no trouble at all seeing all nine galaxies in the field, and
because of this observing project, I saw that ninth one for the first
time, only because I knew it was there.
 
NGC-4387 is magnitude 13, and considering the night, it was by far the
faintest galaxy I saw all night. If I hadn't known it was there, I would
have missed it. In fact, several other people looked at the group and
only counted 8. I don't feel bad missing it so many times before!
 
I used a 26mm Q-70 eyepiece from Orion. It has a 70 degree field, and
despite a fishbowl effect at the edges, I had no problem seeing even the
galaxies at the edges. Of course, I moved around a bit to catch each one
in the center of the field, but to satisfy the observing challenge, I
DID see all 9 at once in the field.
 
All of the galaxies, even M-84 and M-86 were featureless. No mottling
or any detail at all, but they were all definite faint fuzzies and all
had distinct shapes. The most fascinating of the group, to me, was
NGC-4388, an edge-on spiral. It was a nice, though faint large streak,
and out sized and outclassed the similar NGC-4402.
 
This is the stuff I live for! Seeing nine galaxies at once, and being
able to positively identify every one of them is a real thrill.
 
Attached is my requisite crummy drawing, but it should give you an idea
of what you will see if you have enough aperture.
 
Fred
 

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