A deeper dive into Markarian’s Chain

[RobertI]

Last time out I enjoyed some fuzzy delights in Virgo with the 102ED and promised myself that I would investigate Markarian’s chain in the C8 next time out. Tonight looked pretty good so I gave it a go. After finding M84 and M86 making up the bottom of the chain, I moved up to the fainter ‘eyes’ of NGC4435 and 4438, then up to NGC4461 (its 12th magnitude companion NGC 4458 was too faint), then 4473 and finally 4477. I was really pleased to have got the whole chain. I found higher magnification helped. I started at around 40x with the 32mm Plossl, but could only see one of the eyes, but upping the magnification really improved things and I found around 100 - 120x to be the best. Looking back my previous report I was surprised to see that I had got both the eyes in the 102ED, so it’s obviously a good deep sky scope despite its small aperture. I’ll set them up side by side if a get a chance. 
 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by RobertI

[Mircea]

Congratulations Robertl

I nearly never use small magnifications for DSO.

On the 200mm Dobsonian I use Mark III zoom as Deep Sky eyepiece, usually at 154x (8mm). Only on extended clusters I use lower magnifications ( but I dislike the 24mm setting).

On the 250mm Dobsonian I found the TS 7mm UWA is a better choice. This is my DSO eyepiece on that telescope, at 171x.

To the South of M84-M86 there is a galaxy, all three making an isoscel triangular asterism. It is well visible in my 200mm reflector.

Clear sky, Mircea

[RobertI]

Thanks Mercea, interesting to hear your approach to observing faint fuzzies. 👍

[josefk]

Nice @RobertI - you're getting further up the chain with both your scopes than i've managed with mine these past two nights - i keep falling off the tight rope after 4435/4438 and haven't attempted to come in from the other end yet.

Can you achieve nice contrast in your skies there? I'm in semi-rural - SQM 20.8 to 21.1 ish on a moonless night.

[Sunshine]

That's great! I first saw this awesome chain just recently in my 8" dob, seems like you had a spectacular wide field view of the whole chain.

[RobertI]

21 minutes ago, josefk said:

Nice @RobertI - you're getting further up the chain with both your scopes than i've managed with mine these past two nights - i keep falling off the tight rope after 4435/4438 and haven't attempted to come in from the other end yet.

Can you achieve nice contrast in your skies there? I'm in semi-rural - SQM 20.8 to 21.1 ish on a moonless night.

Thanks, my skies sound similar to yours, various sources estimate Bortle 4 SQM 20.8, they never look terribly dark! 

[RobertI]

18 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

That's great! I first saw this awesome chain just recently in my 8" dob, seems like you had a spectacular wide field view of the whole chain.

Thanks! Sadly I didn’t manage to fit the whole thing in with my C8 plus 0.63 reducer. The widest I could get was with the 24mm 68 degree eyepiece at 50x but the skies were too bright to see the whole chain, so going up to a 10mm giving 130x revealed the whole thing, albeit at a very narrow FOV. Both FOV shown below. 
 

[Guest]

I was going to try the chain last night with the 16 inch, but when i couldnt get it with the 10 inch because of sky issues i didnt bother trying.  I will have to try again later 

[bosun21]

I last viewed the chain about a week ago with the 12” dobsonian. I started from M84 and M86 both easily visible then crept up as far as NGC4458 accompanied by NGC4461. I was flitting between direct and averted vision. That’s as far as the transparency would allow this night. I always drape myself with a black piece of fabric which I keep specifically for this purpose. I also find that tapping on the scope is great for noticing the really faint fuzzies. The darkness being gone has taken the fuzzies off my astronomical menu.