In the Heart of the Virgo Cluster
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
The Virgo Cluster of Galaxies is
the closest cluster of galaxies to our Milky Way Galaxy. The Virgo Cluster is so
close that it spans more than 5 degrees on
the sky - about 10 times the angle made by a full Moon.
With its heart lying
about 70 million light years distant, the Virgo Cluster is the
nearest cluster
of galaxies, contains over 2,000 galaxies, and has a noticeable
gravitational pull on the galaxies of the Local Group of Galaxies surrounding
our Milky Way Galaxy.
The cluster contains
not only galaxies filled with stars but also gas so hot it glows in X-rays.
Motions of galaxies in
and around clusters indicate that they contain more dark matter than
any visible matter we can see.
Pictured below, the heart of the Virgo Cluster includes
bright Messier galaxies
such as Markarian's Eyes on
the upper left, M86 just
to the upper right of center, M84 on the far right,
as well as spiral galaxy NGC
4388 at the bottom right.
