Well over a thousand galaxies are known members of the Virgo Cluster [ http://www.seds.org…], the closest large cluster of galaxies to our own local group [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. The galaxy cluster is difficult to see [ http://www.seds.org…] all at once because it covers such a large area on the sky [ http://people.ne.me…index.html ]. Still, this excellent telescopic view [ http://people.ne.me…virgo_cluster.html ] records the region of the Virgo Cluster around its dominant giant elliptical galaxy M87 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. M87 can be seen as a fuzzy patch near the picture’s bottom center. In fact, a close examination of the image will reveal that many of the “stars” are actually surrounded by a telltale fuzz, indicating that they are Virgo Cluster galaxies [ http://www.limber.o…]. How many galaxies can you pick out? Click on the image for an uncropped, labeled version which includes the NGC catalog [ http://www.ngcic.or…] numbers for most of the visible galaxies. On average, Virgo Cluster [ http://chandra.harv…index.html ] galaxies are measured to be about 48 million light-years away. The Virgo Cluster distance [ http://adsbit.harva…nph-iarticle_query?1 996PASP%2E%2E108%2E1 091V ] has been used to give an important determination of the Hubble Constant and the scale of the Universe [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…debate96.html ]. 
Credit and Copyright: 
Matt BenDaniel [ mailto:matt@excelonc orp.com ] 
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galaxy cluster 
keyword: 
virgo cluster 
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M87 
facet_where: 
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) 
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Virgo 
original url: 
http://antwrp.gsfc.… 
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Tags: Galaxies Of The Virgo Cluster, galaxy, nasa, photo, space, star, Universe

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