Markarian's Chain - 2 Panel Mosaic in RGB

Markarian's Chain is a group of galaxies in the constellation of Virgo, the galaxies when viewed from earth are in a curved line hence the name Markarian's Chain, they obtained the name from Benjamin Markarian who dicovered the common motion of the galaxies back in the early 1960s, there are quite a number of galaxies within the group, but the chain itself consists of M84, M86, NGC4477, NGC4473, NGC4461, NGC4458, NGC4438 and NGC4435 which are all visible in this image.

 

This image is a 2-Panel Mosaic, as the QHY183M on the SharpStar 15028HNT doe snot give me enough of a field of view to capture it in a single frame

 

Each Panel consists of

51x150S in Red Filter

51x150S in Green Filter

51x150S in Blue Filter

Darks, Flats and Flat Darks were applied in the image stacking process

 

Total Capture time: 12.8 Hours, total Image Size 34.9mpx

 

Acquisition Dates: March 3, 2020 , March 17, 2020 , March 23, 2020 , March 24, 2020 , March 27, 2020 , March 28, 2020 , April 12, 2020 , April 15, 2020 , April 16, 2020

 

Equipment Details:

Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M Mono ColdMOS Camera at -20C

Imaging Scope: SharpStar 15028HNT Hyperboloid Astrograph

Guide Camera: StarlightXpress Lodestar X2

Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher Finder Scope

Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro

Focuser: Primalucelab ROBO Focuser

FIlterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW

Filters: Astronomik Red, Green and Blue

Power and USB Control: Pegasus Astro USB Ultimate Hub Pro

Acquisition Software: Main Sequence Software. Sequence Generator Pro

Calibration and Stacking: Astro Pixel Processor

Mosaic Panel Merging: Image Composite Editor

Processing Software: PixInsight 1.8.6

Done