The Virgo Cluster

The Virgo Cluster of Galaxies is one of the most widely studied Galaxy clusters. We are really part of it, although in the outer burbs. It is almost 54 million light years away from us. M87, on the right side of this picture is the largest and central galaxy. This is where the famous black hole photo was taken a few years ago.

This is my shot of it. Just 4.5 hours of data in 3 minute subs. Note that the galaxies form a chain, Markarian’s Chain. I count a whopping 42 galaxies in this amateur photo alone. 3 are Messier objects, 87, 86 and 84.

Another part of the Virgo Cluster, the Leo Triplet. About 37 million light years away. Out in the burbs. Note that these three are spirals. In the center of the cluster are giant elliptical galaxies that are the result of gravitational mergers of other galaxies. There is no rotational effect in such galaxies. All the stars are just orbiting in random ways about the center. This is because the various galaxies that merged were all orbiting in different directions before the merger.

What will happen though after several billion years? Will they begin to form some rotational type structure?