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NGC 4438 and NGC 4435 are two galaxies that are part of the so-called “Markarian Chain”, a beautiful string of 8-10 galaxies in the constellation Virgo. NGC 4438, on the left hand side of this image, is a highly distorted spiral galaxy, due to gravitational forces from encounters with the massive M87 and other galaxies in this cluster. The data for this image were acquired by Adam Block with the Schulman Telescope from the Sky Center, Mount Lemmon, AZ.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): NGC 4438 + NGC 4435. Eyes Galaxies
Type: Spiral galaxy
RA: 12h 27m 44.7s
Dec: +13º 00’ 37.2”
Constellation: Virgo
Size (arcmin): 8.5×3.0
Magnitude: +10.2
Distance: 34 Mly
Image
Location: Sky Center, Mount Lemmon, AZ
Size (arcmin): 22×22
Telescope: Schulman Telescope, 32″ (81cm), f/7
Camera: SBIG STX16803 (4096x4096pix)
Guiding: Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2016 and PixInsight