Object Information:

 

Abell 1656 - The Coma Galaxy Cluster
Constellation - Coma Bernices
Distance -  400 million light years

 

Abell 1656 is a massive aggregation of galaxies 400 million light years distant.  The two brightest members, NGC 4889 and NGC 4874 [upper center]are are classified as supergiant elliptical galaxies.  With diameters of 330,000 light years and 260,000 light years respectively, both NGC 4889 and NGC 4874 are far larger than our own Milky Way galaxy.  Many Coma Galaxy Cluster galaxies can be seen in this 81 minute exposure.  A couple of nice face-on spirals, NGC 4921 [the larger of the two] and NGC 4911, can be seen at the bottom of the frame.

  Imaged at: 

 

Near Desert Center, Riverside County, California,

  Equipment:  

 

Optics - Takahashi MT-200 with Takahashi f/4.8 reducer,
Mount - Astro-Physics 900 GTO,
Camera - SBIG ST-10XME with SBIG CFW-8A,                                                

  Exposure Information:

 

Sum of twenty-seven 180 sec. exposures = 81 min. total exposure time.

  Camera Control

  Software:

MaxIm DL,

  Image Processing

  Software:

 

MIRA 6, Photoshop CS.