Abell 1656 is the Coma Berenices Galaxy Cluster, a gigantic galaxy cluster of more than 1,000 galaxies located in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see galaxy identifications.

The Coma Cluster is located 320 million light-years away from Earth. Along with galaxy cluster Abell 1367 in Leo, they make up the Coma Supercluster of galaxies.

Two giant elliptical galaxies, NGC 4889 and NGC 4874, can be seen in the center of the cluster. Most of the galaxies in the Coma Cluster are elliptical galaxies. NGC 4921 is the large blue spiral galaxy at lower left.

Four digit galaxy identification numbers are NGC catalog galaxies. Five digit galaxy identification numbers are PGC catalog galaxies.

North is to the top in the above image.

Quasar Q 1256+2803 At right is an enlarged section of the lower right corner of the image above. Quasar Q 1256+2803 is seen here next to galaxy IC 3959 in Abell 1656. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see the location of the quasar. The quasar is not associated with IC 3959, it just happens to lie along the same line of sight. Abell 1656's galaxies, in this case, are foreground objects even though they are 320 million light-years away. The quasar, however, is very far in the background, at an estimated distance of 11.8 billion light-years with a redshift of 2.66z, shining at magnitude 20.4. This quasar, like 3C 273, is thought to be a compact region in the center of a galaxy that is powered by the accretion disk that surrounds a supermassive black hole.

Q 1256+2803 is located at a distance of 11.8 billion light-years.

Abell 1656 Catalogs: Abell 1656 Common Name: Coma Cluster Object Type: Galaxy Cluster Size: 2.5° x 2.5° Constellation: Coma Berenices Image Field Centered At: RA: 13h 00m 11s Dec: +27° 59' 53" Quasar Q 1256+2803 Catalogs: Q 1256+2803 Object Type: Quasar Magnitude: 20.4 Size: --- Constellation: Coma Berenices Quasar Centered At: RA: 12h 59m 10s Dec: +27° 47' 28"