Markarian’s Chain[酷图]

Markarian's Chain is a group of galaxies that lies at the heart of the Virgo cluster.
Two massive lenticular (SO) galaxies, M86 and M84 at right, dominate this photo. NGC 4438, a spiral galaxy in the center of the photo, appears to be distorted by an interaction with nearby NGC 4435.

The chain, which is an astounding sight in medium to large telescopes, stretches northeast from M84 and M86, and contains more than a dozen galaxies.

Located about 70 million light years away, the Virgo cluster is a gigantic collection of several thousand galaxies that dominate our local part of the universe. It is the center of our local supercluster of galaxies which includes members of our local group, the Milky Way, M31, M32, M110, M33, the Magellanic clouds, and others.