Deep Sky Object in Spring
Coma Cluster (Abell 1656)

Click on image to enlarge

Date & Time: Feb 10 2024, from 27:56 to 29:08 JST(+0900)
Composed 10 shots with 8 minutes exposed
Optical: TAKAHASHI 16cm(6.3") epsilon (f=530mm, F3.3)
with LPS-D1 Light-pollution suppression filter
Auto-guided with TAKAHASHI JP Equatorial & SBIG STV
CMOS Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro (Cooled temp.: -25°C)
Location: Ooizumi, Hokuto city, Yamanashi pref.

Camera Settings: Recording format...16bit FITS, converted to 16bit TIFF(6248×4176)
Device Size...23.5×15.7mm, Gain...100


This image has captured one corner of northern Coma Berenices. In here you can detect the Coma Cluster that contains about 100 tiny galaxies in 2 degrees in span.
The closest cluster of galaxies of Virgo Cluster is spread out with 10 degrees in diameter just south of Coma Cluster. The Coma Cluster has almost same scale with it, the distance to central region is estimated about 290 millions light years.
It's one of characteristics that the Coma Cluster contains many elliptical galaxies. But amateur telescopes can detect member galaxies as simple dimmed light spots. And it's noticeable that two large elliptical galaxies of NGC4874 and NGC4889 are lying in central region of the cluster.
"Cluster of galaxies" is one of cosmic structures several hundreds galaxies are gathering in scale of some ten millions light years. The local group of galaxies (LG) in which our Galaxy is included is a small-scaled galactic group that is positioned in a remote area of the Virgo Cluster. Actually the Virgo Cluster and LG form the "Virgo supercluster of galaxies", a larger cosmic structure in scale of hundred million light years or so. And this Coma Cluster is also a part of "Coma supercluster of galaxies". In short, it's neighbor supercluster of galaxies for us.
This image has been cropped to an equivalent focal length of 700mm. Additionally, by clicking the "Inner-Galactic stars ON/OFF" button at the top right of this page, you can toggle between an image with inner-galactic stars removed. The scale of 10 arc minutes displayed in the star-removed image corresponds to approximately 900 thousand light-years in actual length within the coma cluster.
(Numbers of four digits are catalogue numbers of NGC, and numbers with an initial "I" represent those of IC.)

Abell 1656 / Galaxy Cluster, type 2 1 II
R.A.13h 00m (Rough position)
Dec.+28° (Rough position)
Apparent Sizeabout 120'
# of Galaxies106
Red Shift0.0232
Magnitude-
Distance290 million light yrs.
Galactic SuperclusterComa Supercluster
NGC4874 / Galaxy, typeE+0
R.A.12h 59m 35.7s (2000.0)
Dec.+27°57' 33" (2000.0)
Apparent Size2.3×2.3'
Radial Velocity+7152km/s
Magnitude12.6
Distance350 million light yrs.
Group of GalaxiesComa Cluster
Other IDsUGC 8103, CGCG 160-231
MCG +5-31-70, PGC 44628
NGC4889 / Galaxy, typeE+4
R.A.13h 00m 08.1s (2000.0)
Dec.+27°58' 36" (2000.0)
Apparent Size2.8×2.2'
Radial Velocity+6494km/s
Magnitude12.5
Distance308 million light yrs.
Group of GalaxiesComa Cluster
Other IDsNGC 4884, UGC 8110
CGCG 160-241, MCG +5-31-77
PGC 44715



Around Abell 1616
Abell 1795

Copyright(c) 2024 by Naoyuki Kurita, All rights reserved.
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