Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Coma Berenices (Com)  ·  Contains:  IC 3943  ·  IC 3946  ·  IC 3947  ·  IC 3949  ·  IC 3955  ·  IC 3957  ·  IC 3959  ·  IC 3960  ·  IC 3963  ·  IC 3968  ·  IC 3973  ·  IC 3976  ·  IC 3998  ·  IC 4011  ·  IC 4012  ·  IC 4021  ·  IC 4026  ·  IC 4030  ·  IC 4033  ·  IC 4040  ·  IC 4041  ·  IC 4042  ·  IC 4044  ·  IC 4045  ·  IC 4051  ·  NGC 4850  ·  NGC 4851  ·  NGC 4858  ·  NGC 4860  ·  NGC 4864  ·  And 201 more.
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Abell 1656, Gary Imm
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Abell 1656

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Abell 1656, Gary Imm
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Abell 1656

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Description

Abell 1656 is a large galaxy cluster, nicknamed the Coma Cluster, located 300 million light years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices at a declination of +28 degrees.  This cluster contains over 1000 galaxies. The mouseover annotation identifies 230 of them, but many galaxies in the image are not identified in the annotation.

The 2 large elliptical galaxies which anchor this cluster are massive, each spanning a diameter of over twice that of the Milky Way.

I find this quote from Wikipedia to be interesting:

"As is usual for clusters of this richness, the galaxies are overwhelmingly elliptical and S0 galaxies, with only a few spirals of younger age, and many of them probably near the outskirts of the cluster."

I don't see what Wikipedia describes.  I see plenty of spiral galaxies scattered throughout the cluster, outnumbering the ellipticals.

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