Markarian's Chain

White nights have arrived in our latitude; it's already light at two in the morning. The sun doesn't dip below the horizon by more than 12 degrees, so technically it's not night but astronomical twilight. You can still do astrophotography, but the results will be different. I nostalgically recall an astro-trip beyond the Kama River a month ago, when at the peak of darkness you could barely make out the mount and fellow astronomers just a few steps away. It was then that galaxies in the constellation Virgo and the famous Markarian's Chain were captured—a group of galaxies arranged like a beautiful pendant, with galaxies strung like diamonds (cropped frame). In the full version of the astrophotograph, almost any object that differs in shape and is larger than a star is a galaxy.

Equipment and shooting parameters from April 15, 2023.