Explanation:
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 above, 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.
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