Abell2151 is one of the richstest and biggest galaxy-clusters known today.Its distance in the constellation of Hercules measures about 500 mio.light-years and extends about twice as wide as the field in the picture below.
You can find among the 100 cluster-members many spiral- and interacting galaxies.The brightest member is NGC 6041A,which itself interacts strongly with its compagnion NGC6041B.
A2151 is part of the large Hercules Supercluster,which itself belongs to the much larger super-structure called the Great Wall.
The cluster was first described by H.Shapley in 1933.
position (epoch2000):
RA.: 16h 05m,3
Decl.: +17° 45′
image data:
LRGB image with L = 22x1200s, RGB = 7x1200s each,a total of 14.4 hours
80cm f/7 AstroOptik Keller corrected cassegrain FLI Proline 16803 Astrodon LRGB GenII filters
Prompt 7 CTIO/UNC Chile,remote controlled
image processing: Bernd Flach-Wilken
here you see the complete FOV of the used equipment.To get the full resolution click here.
some of the richest parts of Abell2151 are labeled in this picture:
here is a comparision of the Abell2151 interacting members NGC6050 and IC1179 with the HST result: