Coma Galaxy Cluster Abell 1656

CLICK HERE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION - (2400 x 1599)

Scope: Zenithstar 66 mm APO at f/4.7; Location: Dos Picos Park, Ramona, CA;  14 May, 2009; Camera: Canon XT 350D (Baader ACF modified)

Exposure: 16 x 6 min  (no filters) ISO 800, 6 Darks, no Flats 

Processing: Images were captured with DSLR Focus  and saved as RAW file format. Images were decoded and dark corrected in IRIS. Images were aligned and stacked in IRIS with Sigma Median.  Dark point equalization and rough color balance  were done in IRIS. Gamma adjustments also done in Iris. Gradient removal was done in IRIS. The exposure stack was saved as Tiff.  Final stretching and touch up was done in PhotoShop. Star repair was made in Photoshop on edge stars.  A light background noise reduction was applied using PixInsight LE (SGBNR)  Final Image size is approximately 2400x1599.

North is up in this image.  This image is guided.  This is an image of a region in Coma Berenices that contains the well known galaxy cluster called the Coma Cluster. This cluster is designated as Abell 1656. What looks like a star cluster in the middle of this image is really a distant cluster of galaxies. A central crop of this image below shows the fuzzy galaxy shapes. Three prominent  galaxies in this cluster are NGC 4921, NGC 4889, and NGC 4879 from left to right.  The mean distance of the Coma Cluster from Earth is about 321 million light years. The size of the cluster is estimated to be  several millions of light years across. . The Horizontal FOV is about 4 deg, 8 min.

Image Center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 12h 31m 33s Dec: +27°03'52"

Coma Galaxy Cluster - Crop

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