images

The Virgo cluster of galaxies

by

ESA/DSS/D.De Martin/Novapix

Reference

a-amg02-00059

Date

2008-08-06

Image of the central portion of the great Virgo/Coma cluster including Markarians chain. Located about 70 million light years away, The Virgo cluster is a gigantic collection of several thousand galaxies that dominate our local part of the universe. Image taken with the Palomar Observatory 48-inch Schmidt telescope as part of the Digitized Sky Survey.