Mega-mosaic of Coma-Virgo Galaxy Cluster May 15, 2012
Photographer: Greg Parker Summary Author: Greg Parker The image
above is a mega-mosaic of the Coma-Virgo galaxy cluster as
observed from the New Forest Observatory near Brockenhurst, U.K.
This revealing mosaic comprises over 40 hours of total exposure
time, over a period of 4 years; color image at left and black
and white negative at right. The center of the Coma-Virgo
cluster is approximately 60 million light years distant. A small
telescope is needed to see even the largest of these galaxies,
which lie in the direction of the constellations of Virgo and
Coma Berenices. Featured galaxies include M58 (bottom left, near
edge of image), M89 (spiral at left center), M90 (upper left
center), and M100 (spiral at top right). At lower center, below
and slightly to the left of the curving Markarian's Chain of
galaxies (at center), is the famous M87 "Smoking Gun" giant,
elliptical galaxy. The bright star-like object to the left of
M87 is an asteroid. If you look cl