Galaxy cluster

Galaxy clusters are large collections of galaxies. They consist of hundreds of galaxies and galaxy groups, bound together by gravity.^[2] Galaxy clusters are much larger than galaxy groups, like our Local Group.

Clusters of galaxies should not be confused with either star clusters, which are inside galaxies, or with globular clusters, which usually orbit galaxies.

Notable galaxy clusters in the relatively nearby universe include the Virgo Cluster (which includes our Local Group), Fornax Cluster, Hercules Cluster, and the Coma Cluster.

Still larger than galaxy clusters are superclusters. A very large aggregation of galaxies known as the Great Attractor, dominated by the Norma Cluster, is massive enough to affect the local expansion of the universe (Hubble's law).

Notable galaxy clusters in the distant, high-redshift universe include SPT-CL J0546-5345, the most massive galaxy cluster ever found in the early universe.

1. ↑ "The most distant mature galaxy cluster". ESO Science Release. ESO. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
2. ↑ "Hubble pinpoints furthest protocluster of galaxies ever Seen". ESA/Hubble Press Release. Retrieved 13 January 2012.