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Credit & Copyright: Digitized Sky Survey
Explanation:
Here is one of
the largest objects that anyone will ever see on the sky.
Each of the fuzzy blobs in the above picture is a galaxy, together
making up the Perseus Cluster, one of the closest
clusters of galaxies.
We view the cluster through the foreground of faint stars in our own
Milky Way Galaxy.
It takes light roughly 300 million years to get here
from this region of
the Universe, so we
see this cluster as it existed before
the age of the dinosaurs.
Also known as
Abell 426, the center of the Perseus Cluster
is a prodigious source of
X-ray radiation, and so helps
astronomers explore
how clusters formed and
how gas and
dark matter interact.
The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies is part of the
Pisces-Perseus
supercluster of galaxies,
which spans over 15 degrees and contains over 1000
galaxies.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: cluster of galaxies - Perseus cluster
Publications with words: cluster of galaxies - Perseus cluster
See also: