| Coma Cluster | |
|---|---|
 A Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Spitzer Space Telescope image of the Coma Cluster in ultraviolet and visible light Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/SDSS |
|
| Observation data (Epoch J2000) | |
| Constellation(s) | Coma Berenices |
| Right ascension | 12h 59m 49s[1] |
| Declination | +27° 58′ 50″[1] |
| Number of galaxies | > 1000[2] [3] |
| Other designations | |
| Abell 1656[1] | |
| See also: Galaxy groups and clusters, List of galaxy clusters | |
The Coma Cluster (Abell 1656) is a large cluster of galaxies that contains over 1,000 identified galaxies.[2][3] Along with the Leo Cluster (Abell 1367), it is one of the two major clusters comprising the Coma Supercluster.[1]
The cluster's mean distance from Earth is 99 Mpc (321 million light years).[4] Its ten brightest spiral galaxies have apparent magnitudes of 12–14 that are observable with amateur telescopes larger than 20 cm.[citation needed] The central region is dominated by two giant elliptical galaxies: NGC 4874 and NGC 4889.[5] The cluster is within a few degrees of the north galactic pole on the sky. Most of the galaxies that inhabit the central portion of the Coma Cluster are ellipticals. Both dwarf, as well as giant ellipticals, are found in abundance in the Coma Cluster.[6]
Contents |
Cluster members
As is usual for clusters of this richness, the galaxies are overwhelmingly elliptical and S0 galaxies, with only a few spirals of younger age, and many of them probably near the outskirts of the cluster.
The full extent of the cluster was not understood until it was more thoroughly studied in the 1950s by astronomers at Mount Palomar Observatory, although many of the individual galaxies in the cluster had been identified previously.[citation needed]
See also
- Fornax Cluster - another nearby cluster of galaxies
- Virgo Cluster - another nearby cluster of galaxies
External links
- The Coma Cluster of Galaxies - Astronomy Picture of the Day, NASA, 2000 August 6
- The dynamical state of the Coma cluster with XMM-Newton
- Very Small Array observations of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in nearby galaxy clusters
- Hubble Space Telescope Treasury Survey of the Coma Cluster
- The Coma Cluster on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images
References
- ^ a b c "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for Abell 1656. http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/. Retrieved 2006-09-19.
- ^ a b "Chandra/Field Guide to X-ray Sources". Coma Cluster. http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/coma/. Retrieved 2008-06-16. Chandra/Field Guide to X-ray Sources: Coma Cluster at the Internet Archive
- ^ a b "NASA / Focus on the Coma Cluster". http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/features/objects/coma.html. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
- ^ Colless, M (2001). "Coma Cluster". in P Murdin. Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Bristol Institute of Physics publishing. http://eaa.iop.org/abstract/0333750888/2600. Retrieved 2006-10-08.
- ^ Conselice, Christopher J., Gallagher, John S., III (1998). "Galaxy aggregates in the Coma cluster". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 297: L34–L38. doi:. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?astro-ph/9801160.
- ^ Newswise: Hubble's Sweeping View of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies Retrieved on June 11, 2008.
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