This image includes the southern section of the famous and beautiful galaxy cluster Abell 2151 in Hercules. Sporting several large spirals and a number of hefty elliptical galaxies, this cluster is a component of the Hercules supercluster, which in turn is a portion of the "
Great Wall" superstructure about 500 million light years away. Beyond this great wall lies a vast and relatively empty void that extends deep into the distance beyond. Dark matter filaments are the leading candidate theory to explain this structure, which is typical of the filamentary nature of the structure of the universe. The shape, distribution, length, and other properties of these structures are heavily studied in order to understand some of the physical properties of dark matter.
The famous three-way galactic train wreck of
NGC 6050 is included in this vista, as is the apparently interacting pair of NGC 6045 and PGC 84720. Many fainter members of the cluster are visible.
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