SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Jon Greif
Location of Photo:
Alpine, CA, USA
Date/Time of photo:
May 19 and 21, 2025, between 9 pm and Midnight PDT
Equipment:
TS-Optics 8" f/4 ONTC Newtonian Telescope, 10Micron GM1000HPS Mount, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, ZWO Red, Green and Blue filters, MoonLite focuser, NINA acquisition software and Pixinsight processing software.
Description:
Messier 88 (M88) is a spiral galaxy about 50 to 60 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. M88 is one of many galaxies that belong to the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. M88 appears to be on a highly elliptical orbit, currently on course toward the cluster center, which is occupied by the giant elliptical galaxy M87. M87 is the home of a giant black hole, the first black hole to be directly imaged from Earth (by the Event Horizon Telescope). M88 is currently 2.3 million light years from the center of M87 and will come closest to M87 in about 200 to 300 million years.
