NRAO: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

About this Image

The heart of Abell 1656, the Coma Cluster, is highlighted by spectacular radio emission from NGC4874 and NGC4869. Optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (http://www.sdss.org/) shows numerous galaxies whose light is dominated by old stars and appears reddish-yellow in the image. Radio emission from the galaxies, shown in blue and captured by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array, reveals the remarkable activity originating in the massive black holes at the centers of NGC4874 (large galaxy to the left with two compact lobes of radio emission) and NGC4869 (galaxy at lower middle with the dramatic tail of radio emission). Galaxies much farther away than the Coma Cluster generally appear as reddish smudges, although some also harbor active black holes with radio emission like the small blue objects to the lower right of the image.

Investigator(s):  Neall Miller, Ann Hornschemeier, Bahram Mobasher

Alternate Resolutions

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This image is available in the following downloadable versions:

• 600 x 450 color JPEG
• 1050 x 780 color JPEG
• 2400 x 1800 color TIFF

If you would like to obtain a higher resolution version of this image, please contact Pat Smiley.

For More Information

• Up one level for more info on Radio_Galaxies
• For unfamiliar terms, visit the NRAO Radio Astronomy Glossary

Technical Data

Telescope	VLA
Date of Observation	2006-06-23
Type of Observation	Continuum Observations
Center of Image	RA: 12:59:24.00, Dec: 27:56:25.00 (J2000)
Field of View	0.2000 x 0.1500 degrees
Technical Caption	The optical image is a pseudo-true color image created using Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 data (http://www.sdss.org/dr5/), with the g, r, and i filters mapped to the B, G, and R channels. The radio data, depicted in "blue-flame", come from a Very Large Array program which observed a mosaic of 22 pointings in the Coma cluster. Each pointing received a total integration of one hour, producing a final mosaic with an rms noise of around 27 uJy per 4.4" beam and covering about a square degree. This sensitivity amounts to just over 1E20 W/Hz at the distance of the Coma cluster.



Astronomical database entries for Abell 1656
• Query NED for images of Abell 1656
• Query SIMBAD for more Abell 1656 data

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