![[Center of Coma Cluster]](../pics/comacropgreythumb.png "Center of Coma Cluster") The Coma cluster, made up of dark matter, X-ray emitting gas, and thousands of galaxies, is one of the most dense clusters known. This image (from my Ph. D. thesis ) of the central region is approximately 1.5 million light years across at the distance of the cluster, but its full diameter extends 3 times farther than this. For an idea of how dense this region is, the distance between our Milky Way Galaxy and the nearest comparable Local Group neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, is 2.3 million light years. The two brightest and most massive galaxies in the Coma cluster, NGC 4889 and NGC 4874, are so luminous, that even at their distance of roughly 300 million light-years, they can be seen with small (<10-inch diameter) telescopes (under the right observing conditions, of course.). |
Rachel A. Gibbons' Publications
Update coming soon...
In the meantime, here are my ADS listings, all and refereed, as well as a copy of my Ph. D. dissertation.