Breathtaking Galaxy Amid the Dense Coma Cluster

By Nancy Atkinson - August 10, 2010 at 4:04 PM UTC | Extragalactic

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The Coma Cluster is a huge, densely populated cluster, with thousands of galaxies closely bunched together. Amid the bedlam of ellipticals, lenticulars and irregulars is this majestic face-on spiral galaxy known as NGC 4911. Hubble stared long and deep to get this highly detailed image of this particular galaxy located deep within the Coma Cluster. Data from three different years and 28 hours of exposure time were combined to capture this breathtaking look at spiral arms, glowing newborn star clusters and iridescent pink clouds of hydrogen, meaning there is ongoing star formation.

The Coma Cluster lies 320 million light-years away in the northern constellation

Coma Berenices

. As usual for clusters like this, there are only a few young spirals galaxies, and Hubble magnificently captured one of them in all its glory, using long exposure times with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Source:

HubbleSite

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com