Virgo cluster

The Virgo cluster is the nearest rich galaxy cluster. With a distance of "only" 60 millions light years, many of its galaxies are visible with small telescopes.

This is a typical rich galaxy cluster, with up to 2000 members. Its large mass is also shown by the high peculiar velocities[?] of many of its galaxies, sometimes as high as 1,600 km/s (with respect to the cluster's center). For comparison, the cluster redshift equals to a velocity of only 1,100 km/s.

The giant M87 galaxy is believed to be the dominating member of this cluster.

More info:

• The Virgo Cluster of Galaxies (http://www.seds.org/messier/more/virgo.html), SEDS Messier pages