The Markarian Chain - Messier 84 & Messier 86

The constellation Virgo is absolutely brimming with galaxies and perhaps one of the finest examples is the Markarian Chain pictured above.  Each nonpoint source of light is, in fact, a galaxy.  Named for the Armenian astronomer Benjamin Markarian who discovered they share a common motion (at least 7 appear to move together), this stunning chain of galaxies forms a beautiful curve through the night sky.  Messier 84 and 86 anchor the lower right portion of the chain.  M84 is the galaxy in the lower right corner and the next one up the curve is M86.  

Photo Details

May 6-7, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

69 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 3 hours 27 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Transit of Mercury

Another celestial alignment occurred this morning as the planet Mercury passed between us and the Sun.  I was fortunate to have some breaks in the clouds and capture the image above.  I was also fortunate to share it with some students, colleagues and friends at the Test Track.  In the image above, Mercury is the very small, circular object in the lower half of the sun, the other amorphous blobs you see are sunspots.  It's incredible to see the Sun and Mercury like this as it forces our minds to consider the vastness of the Sun relative to Mercury and in turn, our own planet.  Mercury is about 40% of our own size, so if Earth were seen transiting in an image like this, we'd be a little over two times the small planet above.  In other words, incredibly small.  The next transit will be in November, 2019 and I hope to see it again.  After that, it won't occur again until 2032.  We'll hopefully have human exploration on Mars by then.  Stay tuned!