Abell 1656 - Galaxy Cluster in Coma Berenices
A large cluster of galaxies some billion light years distant.

  • RA: 13:00:29
  • Dec: 27:58
  • Size: 157'
  • Magnitude: 11.0
  • Distance: ~1 billion ly
  • Constellation: Coma Berenices
  • Millennium Star Atlas: Vol. II, pp. 653-4
  • Scope: 12.5" Ritchey-Chretien at f/9
  • Autoguider: unguided
  • Sky conditions: fair seeing, high winds
  • Film: FLI Dream Machine CCD
  • Exposure: 2x30 seconds L
  • Date: 4-15-02

A couple of quick 30 second test frames done the same evening as the M53 and M63 shots. Howling winds and very high low temperatures for the evening did the S/N ratio no favors. But, things have been so thin as far as shooting time has gone this spring in 2003 that I processed this set out of simple boredom and decided to post it anyways even though it's fairly noisy. For an inverted version of this image to make the galaxies more visible, follow this link and hit the back key to return to this page...


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