Galaxy Clusters
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Coma Cluster - These two images are an attempt to capture both the breadth and the depth of this enormous cluster of galaxies in Coma Berenices. Over 1000 confirmed galaxies have been counted. Ninety percent of the matter in this cluster is thought to be dark matter. The average distance of the galaxies in this cluster from earth is 320 million light-years.
The top image has a width of 1.5 angular degrees, encompassing most of the cluster. It shows the variety of galaxies in this cluster. The bottom image shows a small region near the center of the cluster, giving a sense of its density. Essentially every tan, fuzzy spot in this image is a galaxy. Telescope: Meade 14" LX200GPS @ f/2 with Hyperstar 3 Camera: SBIG ST-8300C Autoguiding: Orion ST-80 with Meade DSI using PHD Exposure: 240 minutes |
Perseus Cluster - Also designated Abell 426 this cluster of galaxies is one of the most massive objects in the universe. It is made up of thousands of galaxies, only a few of which are visible here. The whole cluster is emitting X-rays and the brightest X-ray source is the galaxy in the center of this image, NGC 1275, which is also designated as Perseus A. A close look at NGC 1275 reveals a complex structure with streamers emanating from the core. It is thought that they are being pushed out by the very active galactic core.
Telescope: Meade 14" LX200GPS @ f/7 with Starizona SCT corrector Camera: SBIG ST-8300C Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Meade DSI using PHD2 Exposure: 18 X 30 minutes = 9 hrs |
Markarian's Chain - In the mid-1970's B. E. Markarian, an Armenian astronomer, discovered that seven members of this string of galaxies in Virgo share a common motion. The chain includes the two bright elliptical galaxies, M84 and M86, on the right and left, respectively, near the bottom right corner, as well as numerous smaller galaxies. The two interacting galaxies near the center form Arp 120. All are members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, which is about 70 million light years away and exerts a gravitational influence on the Milky Way.
Telescope: Meade 14" LX200GPS @ f/2 with Hyperstar Camera: SBIG ST-8300C Autoguiding: Orion ST-80 with Meade DSI using PHD Exposure: 25 minutes |
Stephan's Quintet - This group of 5 galaxies in Pegasus, discovered in 1877 by Edouard Stephan, consists of 4 interacting galaxies (NGC 7317, 7318a, 7318b and 7319) about 300 million light-years away and the blue foreground galaxy, NGC 7320, about 40 million light-years away. The small galaxy to the left of the group, NGC 7320c, is interacting with the other 4 interacting galaxies, and the 5 form the compact galaxy group, Hickson 92. Halton Arp, famous for his catalog of "peculiar" galaxies (Stephan's Quintet is Arp 319), has argued that the physical characteristics of Stephan's Quintet provide evidence against the Big Bang (see http://www.electric-cosmos.org/arp.htm). The total exposure time was 5 hours 21 minutes.
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Abell 1367 - This cluster in Leo is about 330 million light-years away. It and the Coma Cluster are two of the largest clusters in the Coma Supercluster, which has played an important role in developing our current picture of the large-scale structure of the universe (see http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/superc/com.html ).
Telescope: Meade 14" LX200GPS @ f/2 with Hyperstar 3 Camera: SBIG ST-8300C Autoguiding: Orion ST-80 with Meade DSI using PHD Exposure: 150 minutes |
Hickson 68 - This cluster is about 120 million light-years away in the direction of Canes Venatici and includes five relatively bright galaxies - NGC 5350, the barred spiral near the center; NGC 5354 and NGC 5353, ellipticals apparently colliding with each other; NGC 5355, to the left of NGC 5354; and NGC 5358, lower left. There are a number of faint background galaxies, including a cluster just below HD121197, the mag 6.5 star. The total exposure time for this image was 3 hr 27 min.
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Abell 2151 (Hercules Cluster) – This cluster of about 100 galaxies is approximately 500 million light-years away. The cluster is loaded with gas and dust-rich, star-forming spiral galaxies, but has relatively few elliptical galaxies. Many galaxies seem to be colliding or merging while others seem distorted - clear evidence of interaction in cluster galaxies. Abell 2151, like Abell 1367, is part of The Great Wall, one of the largest currently known structures in the universe consisting of a number of galaxy clusters and superclusters. The total exposure time for this image was 6 hrs.
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Abell 194 - This galaxy cluster, about 300 million light-years away in Andromeda, contains two interesting objects from Halton Arp’s catalog of peculiar galaxies, Arp 133 and Arp 308. Arp 133 consists of the large galaxy, NGC 541, near the center of this image and the small blue galaxy just to its northeast (above left in this image). The blue galaxy, discovered by Minkowski in 1958 and called Minkowski’s Object, is actually a dwarf galaxy undergoing starburst activity caused by interaction with NGC 541. It is very small, 0.3 X 0.4 arcmin.
Arp 308 is the pair of galaxies to the northeast (above and to the left) of Arp 133), NGC 545 and NGC 547. It is associated with the radio source 3C40. There is more info on these Arp objects here - http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/423648-abell-194-a-nearby-galaxy-cluster-and-2-arps/ . Telescope: Meade 14" LX200GPS @ f/7 with Starizona SCT corrector Camera: SBIG ST-8300C Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Meade DSI using PHD2 Exposure: 9 X 30 minutes = 4.5hrs |
Shakhbazian 16 (Arp 330) - This linear chain of galaxies in Draco is one of the more striking entries in the catalog of compact galaxy groups compiled from the Palomar Sky Survey red plates by Russian astronomer, Dr. Romelia K. Shakhbazian, and her colleagues between 1973 and 1979. It is also listed in Halton Arp’s catalog of peculiar galaxies. It is thought that this group is gravitationally bound, though that has not been unequivocally established. The image spans about 12 arcmin. The magnitudes of the galaxies range from >19 for PGC2439822 to 15.6 for PGC59049.
Telescope: Meade 8" LX200R @ f/7 with an Astro-Physics 0.67X telecompressor Camera: SBIG ST-8300C Autoguiding: Starlight Xpress OAG with Meade DSI using PHD2 Exposure: 20 X 15 minutes = 5 hrs |
Deer Lick Group and Stephan's Quintet -The Deer Lick Group of galaxies in the upper right of the image is dominated by NGC 7331, a beautiful, almost edge-on galaxy about 46 million light-years away in Pegasus. There are a number of more distant galaxies surrounding NGC 7331. In the lower left of the image is Stephan's Quintet, consisting of NGC 7320, the blue-ish galaxy about 40 million light years away and the other more distant galaxies about 300 million light-years away. This image also contains a number of small, faint, very distant background galaxies.
Telescope: Meade 8" LX200R @ f/5 with 2" Antares 0.5X reducer Camera: SBIG ST-2000XM Exposures: L = 2 hr 3 min, R = G = B = 45 min |