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Scope: Megrez
II f/4.3; Location: Blair Valley, Anza Borrego Desert, CA; 21 April, 2007;
Camera: Artemis285
Exposure: 7 x 360 sec Luminance exposures with IR Block Filter (bin 1x1);
6 x 60 sec RGB (bin 2x2)
Processing: Images were captured in Artemis Capture (as FITs). Aligned/stacked
in Registax 4 and saved as FITS. Luminance and Color channels were numerically
scaled and color balanced in Astroart. Channels were co-registered
in Astroart. Central Gradient removal was performed on the L,R,G,B stacked
masters. The IR Block exposure was used as the luminance channel. Curves and
Levels applied in Photoshop to optimize object features. Final LRGB
combine was done in Photoshop using Luminance Layering (or LLRGB). Since
RGB data was gather under variable high cloud conditions, the color data was not
consistent. G2V color calibration was not useful and not performed. Color was
balanced by eye. There were significant background color artifacts
due to heavy stretch - these were clipped out using curves and the background
was smoothed. Final touches were done in Photoshop. Final Image size
is approximately 1392x1040.
North is up in this image. The Central galaxy in this field is M86
and the bright galaxy to the right is M84. Both are elliptical galaxies. This
"chain" of galaxies leading to the upper left is sometimes called
Markarian's Chain. The full chain extends off the field to the upper left.
In this field in addition to M86 and M84 are (from upper left to lower right)
NGC4477, NGC4458, NGC4461, NGC4435, NGC4438, NGC4402, NGC4425, NGC4413, NGC4387,
NGC4388, . Fainter galaxies in this image are IC3386, IC3355, IC3388,
IC3363,IC3349, and the list goes on.... This image replaces and earlier image
that can be seen in the Archives
here. Horizontal FOV is about 100'
Image Center
approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 12h 26m 11s Dec: +12°56'47"
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