October 12, 2003
On your birthday, photons that left distant stars before humans walked the Earth finally completed their journey. You began yours.
The Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Birthday · October 12, 2003
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published October 12, 2003. Credit: O. Lopez-Cruz (INAOEP) et al., AURA, NOAO, NSF. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Almost every object in the above photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies pictured above is one of the densest clusters known - it contains thousands of galaxies. Each of these galaxies houses billions of stars - just as our own Milky Way Galaxy does. Although nearby when compared to most other clusters, light from the Coma Cluster still takes hundreds of millions of years to reach us. In fact, the Coma Cluster is so big it takes light millions of years just to go from one side to the other! Most galaxies in Coma and other clusters are ellipticals, while most galaxies outside of clusters are spirals. The nature of Coma's X-ray emission is still being investigated.
Image credit: O. Lopez-Cruz (INAOEP) et al., AURA, NOAO, NSF