The Virgo Markarians Chain around M86
Orion 8" f/4 Astrograph

 

            
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 There
            are few areas of the sky with the concentration of bright galaxies
            such as this. The galaxy in the center is a giant elliptical
            type M86, a 9.8th magnitude object spanning 9 arc minutes or
            more. I say more, because in the super stretched version seen
            at the bottom of this page, you can see it is indeed a huge object,
            occupying much of this 2 degree wide field of view!
 
 First,
            lets look at this negative version of the region right around
            M86. To the galaxies lower left Ive arrowed VCC903, a very faint
            19th magnitude elliptical galaxy spanning .2 arc minutes. This
            seems to be the limit for galaxies in the 8 inch astro graph
            for a short 30 minute exposure.
 
 The
            full extent of all the galaxies can be seen here. M86 is a sizable
            object for sure!

Optics:  8" f/4 Newtonian Astrograph w/Baader MPCC Coma Corrector
Platform:  Homemade GEM with Byers Starmaster Drive 
Camera:  Hutech Modified Canon XTi @ ISO800
Exposure:  12 x 5m
Location:  Happy Jack, Arizona
Elevation:  6850 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  8/10, Transparency 9/10
Outside Temperature:  35F
Processing Tools:  Photoshop CS2, Images Plus 3.82
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