Definition: cluster of galaxies: A system of galaxies containing from a few to a few thousand member galaxies which are all gravitationally bound to each other.
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Coma cluster of galaxies
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cluster of galaxies
A system of galaxies containing from a few to a few thousand member galaxies which are all gravitationally bound to each other.
Cluster of Galaxies - A group of galaxies held together by their mutual gravitational attraction
Cluster of Stars - A group of stars held together by their mutual gravitational attraction ...
Cluster of Galaxies
An aggregate of galaxies. Bautz and Morgan divide them into three morphological types: type I contains a supergiant cD galaxy; type III contains no members significantly brighter than the general bright population.
A cluster of galaxies about 200 Mpc distant. It is also an extended X-ray source. Its radio counterpart is compact and located inside NGC 4696. (3U 1247-41) [H76]
Centaurus X-3 ...
The cluster of galaxies is observed as it was at a time when the Universe was only about 10% of its present age because it has taken the light now recorded by the VLT about nine-tenths of the age of the Universe to travel this huge distance.
The Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of NASA.
When we look out into the Universe we observe some rather remarkable structure. We have seen that stars cluster together to form galaxies.
The Coma Cluster of Galaxies ( O. Lopez-Cruz (INAOEP) et al., AURA, NOAO, NSF )
Regular Clusters ...
The Coma cluster of galaxies contains about a thousand large galaxies and up to 30,000 smaller ones, but most of them can only be seen in large telescopes.
This giant cluster of galaxies and hot gas, known as the Bullet Cluster, provides strong evidence of dark matter, ...
This rich cluster of galaxies is located about 1°30' SW of b Coronae Borealis (see finder chart below). About 1.5 billion light years distant, it occupies area of the sky almost 1° across! ...
A cluster of galaxies distorting the light from even more distant galaxies. There are all sorts of streaky images of galaxies shown here around the large cluster.
Size of a typical cluster of galaxies ( One example of galaxy cluster, near 3C324. Courtesy STScI.)
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Galaxies ( A typical galaxy, M31. Courtesy NASA.) ...
The closest large cluster of galaxies is called the Virgo cluster (toward the direction of the Virgo constellation). The Virgo cluster has over 1000 galaxies in it and is roughly 50 meters away in our scale model.
More recently, astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to make the most detaile measurement yet of the distribution of dark matter in a massive cluster of galaxies.
Our Milky Way Galaxy is a galaxy in what is called the Our Supercluster of Galaxies by the National Geographic Society. Some 150 million light-years across, Our Supercluster is a great aggregation of perhaps thousands of smaller clusters of galaxies.
Galaxies in a cluster of galaxies will move around on orbits within that cluster. The Andromeda galaxy is moving toward the Milky Way. These velocities will be present in addition to any Hubble expansion velocity.
NGC 4145, an anemic spiral in the Ursa Major cluster of galaxies. While the spiral arms of this galaxy are punctuated by some activity, the rest of the galaxy is quite quiet.
Look for the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. An 8-inch telescope is a perfect size for this project, although a smaller telescope will also work. The constellation Virgo is visible from the United States during much of fall, winter, and spring.
Our Galaxy is one of a small cluster of galaxies, which are collectively called the Local Group. The Local Group contains numerous dwarf galaxies and a few larger galaxies.
The constellation of Virgo is the center of the closest large cluster of galaxies, and can easily take up several evenings of observing time.
The Local Group is the cluster of galaxies to which we belong. It is a group of about 30 galaxies that is about 5 million light-years across. The largest of the galaxies are Andromeda galaxy, Triangulum, and our Milky Way.
In 1933 Zwicky estimated the total amount of mass in a cluster of galaxies, the Coma Cluster, based on the motions of the galaxies near the edge of the cluster.
M89 is also a member of the incredible Virgo cluster of galaxies. This is an elliptical galaxy and is almost exactly circular in appearance. It is not known if it is actually circular in shape or if it is an elliptical in shape viewed end-on.
Local Group: The relatively small cluster of galaxies of which our Milky Way is a part. It is known to contain about two dozen member galaxies, but most of those are 'dwarf'' galaxies, considerably smaller than our own.
"Even if the black hole gets kicked out of one galaxy, it is still going to be gravitationally bound to the whole cluster of galaxies," says lead researcher Professor David Merritt from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
NGC 1316 is on the outskirts of a nearby cluster of galaxies in the southern constellation of Fornax, at a distance of about 60 million light-years. It is one of the brightest ellipticals in the Fornax galaxy cluster.
X-ray observations with the ROSAT satellite then revealed that Abell 3627, a previously known cluster of galaxies, was much more massive than originally suspected, containing many more galaxies.
The galaxy M100 is one of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. It can be seen through a moderate-sized amateur telescope. M100 is spiral shaped, like our Milky Way, and tilted nearly face-on as seen from earth.
The most outstanding Virgo Supercluster of galaxies is located on the northern border of Virgo reaching into the neighbouring constellation of Coma Berenices.
The mass of a cluster of galaxies can be determined in an analogous way by measuring the motion of the galaxies within it.
In addition, it appears that the space between galaxies in a cluster of galaxies is filled with a very hot, but very dilute gas at a temperature of between 10 and 100 megakelvins.
super cluster
A huge cluster of galaxies. It can either be a large grouping of thousands of galaxies, or a cluster of individual galaxy clusters.
superior planet
A planet in our solar system that is further from the Sun than the Earth.
Stephan's Quintet is a noted cluster of galaxies half a degree SSW of NGC 7331. See how many of the five you can spot (three is average, four is good).
All three of these galaxies can be found within one degree of each other, making this cluster of galaxies a favorites of amateur astronomers throughout the northern hemisphere.
Clear skies, and good viewing.
Gravitational Lens
a concentration of matter such as a galaxy or cluster of galaxies that bends light rays from a background object. Gravitational lensing results in duplicate images of distant objects.
Local group. A term used to describe the local cluster of galaxies of which the Milky Way galaxy is part. The largest member of the Local Group is the Andromeda Galaxy, Messier 31.
BARRED SPIRAL GALAXY
NGC 1365, a barred spiral galaxy in the Fornax cluster of galaxies. It is about 60 million light-years from Earth.
Our Local Group belongs to an even larger structure, a supercluster with the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies at its centre, about 70 million light years (about 21 Mpc) away.
A massive object that magnifies or distorts the light of objects lying behind it. For example, the powerful gravitational field of a massive cluster of galaxies can bend the light rays from more distant galaxies, ...
"We think these old, relic lobes have been 're-lighted' by shock waves from rapidly-moving material falling into the cluster of galaxies as the cluster continues to accrete matter," said Ananda.
I'll stress at the outset that the visible galaxies are such a minor part of the whole assemblages, and are probably even outweighed by the hot intracluster gas, that "cluster of galaxies" is downright misleading, but we're stuck with it.
This cluster is roughly 60 million light years from Earth and is the closest cluster of galaxies to our galaxy (the Milky Way Galaxy).
An edge-on spiral galaxy in Sculptor, NGC 253
AAT 55. NGC 1365, a barred spiral galaxy in Fornax
AAT 82. NGC 1360, diffuse planetary nebula in Fornax
AAT 118. NGC 1316-17, the radio galaxy Fornax A
UKS 13. The Fornax Cluster of galaxies ...
The magnitude of this effect--the so-called dipole anisotropy--allows astronomers to determine that the Local Group of galaxies is moving at a speed of about 600 km/sec in a direction that is 45 from the direction of the Virgo cluster of galaxies.
The most common theories state that our galaxy and M31 will collide, creating a massive elliptical galaxy, and that the Local Group will eventually be "swallowed" by the almost incomprehensibly huge Virgo Supercluster of galaxies.
Irregular clusters are not too centrally condensed with a somewhat nonspherical overall shape. They contain a few to hundreds of galaxies. Our Local Group (below) is an example of an irregular cluster of galaxies.
 See also: Galaxies, Cluster, Galaxy, Light, Earth
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