apod
06-16-08, 03:40 PM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0806/coma_hst.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0806/coma_hst_big.jpg) Inside the Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Credit: NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/),ESA (http://www.spacetelescope.org/),Hubble Heritage (http://heritage.stsci.edu/)(STScI (http://www.stsci.edu/)/AURA (http://www.aura-astronomy.org/));
Acknowledgment: D. Carter (http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/people/) (LJMU (http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/courses/distance.shtml)) et al. and the Coma HST ACS Treasury Team (http://heritage.stsci.edu/2008/24/bio/bio_primary.html)
Explanation: Almost every object in the above photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_galaxy_cluster) pictured above (http://heritage.stsci.edu/2008/24/caption.html) is one of the densest clusters (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search?cluster+of+galaxies) known - it contains thousands of galaxies (http://www.seds.org/messier/galaxy.html). Each of these galaxies houses billions of stars - just as our own Milky Way Galaxy (http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/gal_milky.html) does. Although nearby when compared to most other clusters (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/clusters_of_galaxies.html), light from the Coma Cluster (http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/courses/astro201/coma.htm) still takes hundreds of millions of years to reach us. In fact, the Coma Cluster (http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/coma/) is so big it takes light millions of years just to go from one side to the other! The above mosaic (http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/24/image/a/) of images of a small portion of Coma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_galaxy_cluster) was taken in unprecedented detail by the Hubble Space Telescope (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html) to investigate how galaxies in rich clusters form and evolve. Most galaxies in Coma (http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/features/objects/coma.html) and other clusters are ellipticals (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/elliptical_galaxies.html), although some imaged here are clearly spirals. The spiral galaxy on the upper left of the above image (http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/24/image/) can also be found as one of the bluer galaxies on the upper left of this wider field image (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060321.html).In the background thousands of unrelated galaxies are visible far across the universe (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040309.html).
Source (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080616.html)
Credit: NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/),ESA (http://www.spacetelescope.org/),Hubble Heritage (http://heritage.stsci.edu/)(STScI (http://www.stsci.edu/)/AURA (http://www.aura-astronomy.org/));
Acknowledgment: D. Carter (http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/people/) (LJMU (http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/courses/distance.shtml)) et al. and the Coma HST ACS Treasury Team (http://heritage.stsci.edu/2008/24/bio/bio_primary.html)
Explanation: Almost every object in the above photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_galaxy_cluster) pictured above (http://heritage.stsci.edu/2008/24/caption.html) is one of the densest clusters (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search?cluster+of+galaxies) known - it contains thousands of galaxies (http://www.seds.org/messier/galaxy.html). Each of these galaxies houses billions of stars - just as our own Milky Way Galaxy (http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/gal_milky.html) does. Although nearby when compared to most other clusters (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/clusters_of_galaxies.html), light from the Coma Cluster (http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/courses/astro201/coma.htm) still takes hundreds of millions of years to reach us. In fact, the Coma Cluster (http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/coma/) is so big it takes light millions of years just to go from one side to the other! The above mosaic (http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/24/image/a/) of images of a small portion of Coma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_galaxy_cluster) was taken in unprecedented detail by the Hubble Space Telescope (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html) to investigate how galaxies in rich clusters form and evolve. Most galaxies in Coma (http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/features/objects/coma.html) and other clusters are ellipticals (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/elliptical_galaxies.html), although some imaged here are clearly spirals. The spiral galaxy on the upper left of the above image (http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/24/image/) can also be found as one of the bluer galaxies on the upper left of this wider field image (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060321.html).In the background thousands of unrelated galaxies are visible far across the universe (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040309.html).
Source (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080616.html)