An absolutely fantastic image of the Markarian’s Chain taken by George Buckberry using a Dwarf 3 smart scope last night. It was George’s 1st attempt at imaging the chain.
Markarian’s Chain is stunning curved string of at least eight galaxies, located near the core of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. It features prominent galaxies like M84, M86, and the interacting pair “The Eyes” (NGC 4435/4438).
The chain starts with the large elliptical galaxies M84 and M86, and includes NGC 4435, NGC 4438, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4473, and NGC 4477.
Left is a labelled Markarian’s chain by Joe Renzetti from Sky & Telescope to help you identify the galaxies.