Posted on 06/15/2022 2:24:41 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: The Virgo Cluster of Galaxies is the closest cluster of galaxies to our Milky Way Galaxy. The Virgo Cluster is so close that it spans more than 5 degrees on the sky - about 10 times the angle made by a full Moon. With its heart lying about 70 million light years distant, the Virgo Cluster is the nearest cluster of galaxies, contains over 2,000 galaxies, and has a noticeable gravitational pull on the galaxies of the Local Group of Galaxies surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy. The cluster contains not only galaxies filled with stars but also gas so hot it glows in X-rays. Motions of galaxies in and around clusters indicate that they contain more dark matter than any visible matter we can see. Pictured here, the heart of the Virgo Cluster includes bright Messier galaxies such as Markarian's Eyes on the upper left, M86 just to the upper right of center, M84 on the far right, as well as spiral galaxy NGC 4388 at the bottom right.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
h/t to Brian Aldiss
“Nobody here but us chickens”
All those planets out there.............
I was going to say something similar, but you said it better.
In a phrase by the title character in the play “Hamlet”,
by William Shakespeare,
Hamlet suggests to Horatio that human knowledge is limited:
“There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Sky & Telescope’s centerfold star charts depicted a tight cluster of galaxies nestled in the “Y” of Virgo, called the “Realm of Galaxies”. Even as a pre-teen my head would spin contemplating these words.
And still it's all a speck amid a hundred billion stars
In a galaxy we call the Milky Way
It's sixty thousand trillion miles from one end to the other
And still that's just a fraction of the way
'Cause there's a hundred billion galaxies that stretch across the sky
Filled with constellations, planets, moons and stars
And still the universe extends to a place that never ends
Which is maybe just inside a little jar!
[Chorus: Yakko, Wakko, and Dot]
It's a great big universe
And we're all really puny
We're just tiny little specks
About the size of Mickey Rooney
Though we don't know how it got here
We're an important part here
It's a big universe and it's ours!
Billions of galaxies with each having a hundred billion and more stars and trillions of planets. Outside the universe is a lab and we are in a glass of liquid and we are the stuff that gets filtered.... : )
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.