wide field astrophotography
This image of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster (in the constellation Virgo) pushes both my equipment and my current processing abilities to their limits. A target better suited for a larger telescopes, I photographed it here using a fairly small diameter wide-field scope and standard DSLR camera. The image quality is further hampered by the less than ideal weather conditions (high moisture levels in the atmosphere) during the period that the image was captured. That all said, the image does reveal a large number of galaxies and is still pretty interesting.
Nikon D750 | WO Zenithstar 61ii 360mm | 2 hrs, 39 min exposure | 2021-05-18
Located almost 54 million light years away, M87 (aka Messier 87, NGC 4486, Virgo A) is located near the centre of the cluster (and centre of this image). Also seen prominently in the image to the left of M87 are the spiral galaxies M88 (in the constellation Coma Berenices) and M90 (also in the constellation Virgo). Also visible near the top centre of the frame is the Markarian's Chain stretch of galaxies. Still part of the Virgo Cluster, Markarian's includes among other deep sky features, the elliptical galaxies M84 and M86. It is estimated that in its entirety, the Virgo Cluster contains somewhere between 1,300 and 2,000 individual galaxies.
There is a lot going on in the Virgo Cluster image. Click anywhere on this image to see enlarged annotated view.
This zoomed in version highlights the spiral galaxies M90 and M91. Both are located roughly 60 million light years away in the constellation Virgo. Also prominent in the frame is M88 which sits at a distance of about 50 million light years in the constellation Coma Berenices.
This cut-away shows NGC 4567, NGC 4568, NGC4564 and M58. NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 (nicknamed the Butterfly Galaxies) are a set of unbarred spiral galaxies about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Still in an early phase of interaction, they are in the process of colliding and merging. This is a fascinating area of the sky and I very much look forward to future opportunities to image it with larger more sophisticated equipment.
The region of the Virgo Cluster shown in the enlarged portion above is called Markarian's Chain. It resolves quite poorly in this zoomed in version but nevertheless does highlight several galaxies (50-60 million light years way) including M84, M86, NGC4438, NGC4406 and NGC4438.
