NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

The Virgo Cluster of Galaxies

Pictured are several galaxies of the Virgo Cluster, the closest cluster of galaxies [ http://www.astr.ua.…] to our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. The Virgo Cluster [ http://www.seds.org…] spans more than 5 degrees on the sky - about 10 times the angle made by a full Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. It contains over 100 galaxies of many types - including spirals [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], ellipticals [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and irregular [ http://www.seds.org…] galaxies. The Virgo Cluster [ http://www.astr.ua.…] is so massive that it is noticeably pulling our Galaxy toward it. The cluster contains not only galaxies filled with stars but also gas so hot [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] it glows in X-rays [ http://www.optonlin…]. Motions of galaxies in and around clusters indicate that they contain more dark matter [ http://cfpa.berkele…] than any visible matter we can see. Notable bright galaxies in the Virgo Cluster include bright Messier objects [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] such as M61 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], M87 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], M90 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and M100 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].

Digitized Sky Survey [ http://stdatu.stsci…], Palomar Observatory [ http://astro.caltec…], STScI [ http://www.stsci.ed…]

cluster of galaxies

Virgo Cluster

Milky Way Galaxy

M100

M61

M87

M90

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Moon

Virgo

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap000220