The Virgo Cluster is a tiny cluster of galaxies in the constellation Virgo, with a center distance of 53.8 0.3 Mly (16.5 0.1 Mpc). The cluster is the heart of the larger Virgo Supercluster, of which the Local Group (which contains our Milky Way galaxy) is a part. It has around 1,300 (and maybe up to 2,000) member galaxies. The Virgocentric flow is how the Local Group perceives the mass of the Virgo Supercluster. The mass of the Virgo Cluster is estimated to be 1.2.
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What constellation does the Virgo Cluster belong to?
The Virgo Cluster is the closest and best-studied greatcluster of galaxies, located in the Virgo constellation at a distance of around 20 Mpc. The Virgo Cluster is the center of the Local Supercluster of galaxies, inside which we (in the Milky Way, in the Local Group) are located. Charles Messier noticed an extraordinary concentration of “nebulae” in Virgo as early as 1784; 15 of the 109 “Messier” objects are, in fact, Virgo Clustergalaxies, the most renowned of which being Messier 87, the enormous ellipticalgalaxie with the mystery jet. The true nature of the group of nebulae in Virgoas a self-gravitating system of hundreds of galaxies was soon realized after Edwin P. Hubble’s 1923 discovery of Cepheids in M31, and the first systematic investigations of the Virgo Cluster(as it was later called) were carried out by Harlow Shapley and Adelaide Ames. Since then, the Virgo Cluster has been and continues to be of critical importance in extragalactic astronomy: Large numbers of galaxies of different sorts and luminosities can be seen in great detail here, making the cluster both an ideal laboratory for studying galaxies’ systematic features and a vital stepping stone for the cosmological distance scale.
What part of the Virgo Cluster are we in?
Our Local Supercluster lies in the core of the Virgo Cluster, which is 65 million light-years away; their coincident positions are why it is termed the Virgo Supercluster.
The Virgo Supercluster contains how many clusters?
The Virgo Supercluster (Virgo SC) or Local Supercluster (LSC or LS) is a mass concentration of galaxies that includes the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. Within its 33 megaparsec diameter, there are at least 100 galaxy groups and clusters (110 million light-years). The Virgo SC is part of the PiscesCetus Supercluster Complex, a galaxy filament, and is one of around 10 million superclusters in the observable universe.
According to a 2014 study, the Virgo Supercluster is just one lobe of Laniakea, a larger, rival referent of the term Local Supercluster centered on the Great Attractor.
What is the Virgo Cluster’s center of gravity?
There are about a thousand galaxies in the massive Virgo Cluster. M87, the cluster’s most massive member, is shown below center in the central region. The large elliptical galaxy M87 is located at the cluster’s center, as well as the center of subgroup Virgo A. The Virgo Cluster is filled with bright galaxies like M87.
Is the Virgo Cluster visible?
The stars of the Big Dipper can be used to find Arcturus and Spica. The curved path produced by the Dipper’s handle leads first to Arcturus, then to Spica. These are the brightest stars along this imaginary line, and they are easy to see even in less than ideal lighting.
With Arcturus and Spica, Denebola, Beta Leonis, forms a roughly equilateral triangle. It marks the tail of the celestial Lion and is located east of Regulus, Leo’s brightest star. The Sickle, a backward question mark formed by some of Leo’s brightest stars and resembling the Lion’s head and mane, is easily identified. Denebola is the brightest and easternmost of the three stars that form a triangle on the other side of Leo, whereas Regulus is at the bottom of the Sickle.
Denebola is a 2.1 visual magnitude white A-type main sequence star. It’s also a member of the Great Diamond asterism, which includes Arcturus, Spica, and Cor Caroli, the brightest star in the Canes Venatici constellation. Between Denebola and the brighter Regulus, five other famous Messier galaxies can be found: Messier 65, Messier 66, Messier 105, Messier 95, and Messier 96.
The Spring Triangle’s Vindemiatrix, Epsilon Virginis, is near the center. With an apparent magnitude of 2.8, it is a yellow G-type massive star. After Spica and Porrima, it is the third brightest star in Virgo.
Between Vindemiatrix and Denebola, the Virgo Cluster galaxies can be observed. The spring is the greatest time of year to observe galaxies from northern latitudes.
Do we belong to the Virgo Cluster?
It’s time to broaden your horizons and study the Universe’s greatest structures: superclusters, which are huge groups of galaxies. Nothing in the Universe is bigger than this. The Virgo Supercluster is the supercluster in which we reside. It’s a massive grouping of over a million galaxies that stretches across a 110 million light-year-wide region of space.
Our Sun is one of the Milky Way’s members, and the Milky Way is part of the Local Group, a collection of galaxies. The Milky Way, Andromeda, and the Triangulum Galaxy are all huge spiral galaxies, with a few hundred dwarf galaxies thrown in for good measure. The Virgo Cluster has several members, including the Local Group. This galaxy cluster spans 15 million light-years and contains 1200-2000 galaxies. The Virgo Cluster is thus merely one of the Virgo Supercluster’s clusters.
Although astronomers realized we were among a supercluster of galaxies as early as the 1950s, it wasn’t until the 1970s that they mapped out the Virgo Supercluster’s shape, which is similar to our own galaxy. Our Virgo Cluster is a branch of the Virgo Supercluster.
Are galaxies in close proximity?
As stars collide with merging supermassive black holes, some will be blasted out of the galaxy, while others will be destroyed. Both galaxies’ delicate spiral structures will be lost as they merge into a single, massive, elliptical galaxy. However, as terrifying as this seems, such a process is a normal aspect of galactic evolution.
This coming collision has been known to astronomers for some time. This is based on our galaxy’s and Andromeda’s direction and speed. But, more crucially, astronomers observe galaxy collisions on a regular basis when looking out into the universe.
Galaxies circle around a common center and are kept together by mutual gravitation. Galaxies interact often, especially between massive and satellite galaxies. This is frequently caused by galaxies drifting too close together, to the point that the satellite galaxy’s gravity attracts one of the massive galaxy’s primary spiral arms.
In other situations, the satellite galaxy’s course may cross with that of the main galaxy. Collisions could result in mergers if neither galaxy has enough momentum to continue moving after the collision. If one of the colliding galaxies is substantially larger than the other, it will remain mostly intact and maintain its shape, whereas the smaller galaxy will be shredded apart and absorbed by the larger galaxy.
What are the nearest five galaxies?
The closest galaxies to Earth are listed in order of increasing distance. Many of the distances are simply estimations, and some could be off by as much as 50%. This list’s distance ranking should only be considered a guess. The units of measurement are light years (ly).
What is the Virgo Cluster’s mass?
The Virgo cluster (called as such because it is observed in the direction of the constellation Virgo) is the largest and closest galaxy cluster to the Local Group, located at a distance of 16 Mpc and spans 8 degrees across the sky. In reality, the Local Group is frequently thought to be in the Virgo cluster’s outskirts.
The cluster contains on the order of 2,000 galaxies, with many more spiral galaxies than is expected for a cluster of this size, with a mass of around 100,000 billion solar masses.
The cluster comprises three clearly distinguishable sub-clusters (centered on M87, M86, and M49), indicating that it is still forming. The cluster’s X-ray halo has an uneven distribution, which supports this theory.
The Virgo cluster’s mass is so large that it has a substantial impact on the motions of most galaxies in its vicinity, drawing them towards it (the ‘Virgo-centric flow’). Despite the fact that the Local Group is now receding from the cluster, the Virgo cluster’s mass is so great that the Local Group is anticipated to gradually slow down and reverse course, finally joining the cluster.
What is the glue that ties galaxy clusters together?
Galaxy clusters are the universe’s largest objects, locked together by their own gravity. They have hundreds or thousands of galaxies, a lot of hot plasma, and a lot of dark matter that isn’t observable. The Perseus Cluster, for example, is one of the most brilliant X-ray sources in the sky, with over a thousand galaxies. The largest galaxies in the known universe reside in galaxy clusters, which supply us with knowledge on the structure of the cosmos on the largest scales.
