Object Information                                            Imaging Details

Markarian's Chain is a remarkable string of galaxies belonging primarily to the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The most prominent galaxies in this frame are M88 (in the lower right), and the lenticular galaxies M84 and M86 (towards the upper left). Each of these brighter galaxies are located about 60 million light years from Earth.

The image was taken at the 2008 Texas Star Party using a C11 equipped with a DSLR-compatible Starizona Hyperstar. Galaxies as dim as magnitude 17 are visible in the image. Exposure time was only 2 minutes.

Clicking on the image will bring up a larger copy of the image which you can 'mouseover' to show galaxy designations and magnitudes.

Telescope:

Celestron NexStar GPS11