Abell 1656 Galaxy Cluster

clic for 42% size 1492 x 1075 (300 kB)

Clic here for 70% size 2486x1492 (670 kB)

 

About this Image

The image shows Abell 1656, the Coma Galaxy Cluster in Coma Berenices. The brightest galaxies are NGC4889 and NGC4874, both ellyptical near the center and the spiral NGC 4921 to the east. A few bright foreground star can be seen, most of the other objects are galaxies. The Coma Cluster,one of the densest known clusters containing thousands of galaxies is situated 400 million light years away, and nearly 100 million lightyears deep.

Below you see a crop on the center of the cluster in 50/100% size. A tidal arc can be seen north of NGC 7874.
North is up.


clic for 100% size 1435 x 1105 (230 kB)



Technical Details
Optics

16" cassegrain in corrected prime focus at f/3

Mount MK-100 GEM
Camera SBIG STL-11000M at -25C, internal filter wheel
Filters Astronomik LRGB
Date May 10-12, 2005.
Location Wildon/Austria
Sky Conditions mag 5 sky, temperature 0 C
Exposure L:R:G:B = 180:30:20:30 minutes (10-minute sub-exposures).
Processing Image aquisition in Maxim DL 4, calibration, stacking, DDP in ImagesPlus; Curves, color balance in Photoshop; Noise reduction by Neatimage;