Markarian's Chain (LHRGB)

Image Title: Markarian's Chain (LHRGB)

Copyright: Brent Newton

Date image was taken: June 19, 2026

Location: Starfront Observatories, Rockwood, TX, US

Data Acquisition Method: Remote Observatory (Commercial)

Description and Details: This is a 104 hour integration covering the king of Galaxy Season targets. This is the first time I have captured it under the appreciably dark skies of a remote observatory, and as such I captured much more dim background nebulosity than before as well as the Hα bridge between The Eyes and M86.

As always, the relativistic jet from M87 is tenuously visible among its bright core, though it may be realistically harder to see due to 8bit JPG compression and without full zoom. One curious detail which appeared in the ~50 hours of Hα exposures was a second jet-like detail opposite the main blue electron beam we have all seen before. My best guess is that this is capturing outflow material from the Black Hole which has been captured in IR by Spitzer and in Radio by the VLA in past decades - though I have never seen this detail appear in amateur images until now.

TS86SDQ, 460mm, F/5.4, ZWO ASI6200MM-P, Antlia LRGB, Antlia 3nm Hα filters

L | 210×300″ | 17h 30′
R | 146×300″ | 12h 10′
G | 147×300″ | 12h 15′
B | 141×300″ | 11h 45′
Hα | 300×600″ | 50h

Name: Brent Newton

Website or Facebook Profile: http://astronewton.com