Abell 2151, the Hercules Galaxy Cluster, is located in the constellation of Hercules near the border of Serpens.

The galaxy cluster is composed of a wide variety of galaxy types including spirals, ellipticals and lenticular galaxies, many of them interacting.

Abell 2151 is located 500 million light-years away and is part of the Hercules supercluster, which, in turn, is part of the Great Wall super structure. The Great Wall is a collection of galaxies and galaxy clusters that is more than 500 million light-years long, 200 million wide and only 15 million light-years thick. It is one of the largest currently known structures in the universe.

NGC 6045A, a magnitude 14.8 spiral galaxy near the center of the frame, is tidally-distorted from interacting with NGC 6045B, the much smaller magnitude 16.5 galaxy close to the left of it.

NGC 6040A, a magnitude 14.6 galaxy at left-center in the frame, is another tidally-distorted spiral that is interacting with NGC 6040B, a magnitude 15.5 galaxy just below it.

North is to the top in the above image.

Abell 2151 Catalogs: Abell 2151 Common Name: Hercules Cluster Object Type: Galaxy Cluster Size: 2° Constellation: Hercules Image Field Centered At: RA: 16h 05m 03s Dec: +17° 44' 33"