Part of Markarian's Chain

Capture

Seestar s50 102 stacks

Date

12 July 2026

Location

Camden, NSW

Original

1080 × 1920 px

Part of Markarian's Chain is a stretch of elliptical and lenticular galaxies, together with a few spirals that forms part of the Virgo Cluster.The centre of which is about 54 million light years away, although individual member galaxies range from roughly 50 to 65 million light-years because of the cluster's great depth. The Virgo Cluster contains about 1,500 galaxies and is estimated to have a total mass of approximately one quadrillion (one million billion) times the mass of the Sun (about 10¹⁵ solar masses), most of which consists of dark matter, together with hot X-ray-emitting gas that fills the space between the galaxies. Among the most prominent members of Markarian's Chain are M84 and M86, both giant elliptical galaxies.

See it in the galaxies gallery