- The Coma Star Cluster (also known as Melotte 111 or Collinder 256) is a small but nearby open cluster located in the constellation Coma Berenices. The cluster contains about 40 brighter stars (between magnitudes 5 and 10) with a common proper motion. The brighter stars of the cluster make out a distinctive “V” shape as seen when Coma Berenices is rising. The cluster used to represent the tail of Leo. However, in around 240 BC, Ptolemy III renamed it for the Egyptian queen Berenice’s legendary sacrifice of her hair.
- The Great Attractor (youtube.com)
No matter where you are, you are always moving. The Earth orbits the sun, and the sun moves round the galaxy. But what is it that makes the galaxy move? That is going to be our topic today. Everything in our local galaxy supercluster, Laniakea, is being dragged towards a very high concentration of mass hidden behind the plane of our galaxy. It has all the ingredients for an epic space mystery, it is the Great Attractor.