                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2024 March 27
      A picture filled with fuzzy yellow spots is presented. All of the
   yellow spots are galaxies, and most of the galaxies are members of the
   Coma Cluster of Galaxies. The two bright blue dots are foreground stars
      in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                        The Coma Cluster of Galaxies
                      Image Credit & Copyright: Joe Hua

   Explanation: Almost every object in the featured photograph is a
   galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies pictured here is one of the
   densest clusters known - it contains thousands of galaxies. Each of
   these galaxies houses billions of stars - just as our own Milky Way
   Galaxy does. Although nearby when compared to most other clusters,
   light from the Coma Cluster still takes hundreds of millions of years
   to reach us. In fact, the Coma Cluster is so big it takes light
   millions of years just to go from one side to the other. Most galaxies
   in Coma and other clusters are ellipticals, while most galaxies outside
   of clusters are spirals. The nature of Coma's X-ray emission is still
   being investigated.

                    Tomorrow's picture: millions of stars
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

