The Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Credit & Copyright:
Jim Misti
(Misti
Mountain Observatory)
Almost every object in the above photograph is a galaxy.
The Coma Cluster of Galaxies
pictured above is one of the densest
clusters known - it contains thousands of
galaxies.
Each of these galaxies houses billions of stars -
just as our own Milky Way Galaxy does.
Although nearby when compared to most other
clusters,
light from the Coma Cluster
still takes hundreds of millions of years to reach us.
In fact, the
Coma Cluster is so big it takes light
millions of years just to go from one side to the other!
Most galaxies in Coma and other clusters are
ellipticals,
while most
galaxies outside of clusters are
spirals.
The nature of
Coma's X-ray emission is
still being investigated.