Centaurus Cluster

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Centaurus Cluster
Centaurus cluster.jpg
Chandra X-ray image showing the inner 6.7 arcminutes of the core of the Centaurus Cluster. This image shows the hot intracluster medium, at temperatures of a few tens of million Kelvin.
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Constellation(s) Centaurus
Right ascension 12h 48m 51.8s[1]
Declination −41° 18′ 21″[1]
Brightest member NGC 4696
Number of galaxies ~100[1]
Richness class 0[2]
Bautz-Morgan classification I-II [2]
Redshift 0.01140 (3 418 km/s)[1]
Distance
(co-moving)
52.4 Mpc (170.9 Mly) h−1
0.705
[1]
X-ray flux 15.7×1011 erg s−1 cm−2 (0.5—2 keV) [1]
Other designations
Abell 3526[1]
See also: Galaxy groups, Galaxy clusters, List of galaxy clusters
NGC 4696: a cosmic question mark. Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA

The Centaurus Cluster (A3526) is a cluster of hundreds of galaxies, located approximately 170 million light years away in the Centaurus constellation. The brightest member galaxy is the elliptical galaxy NGC 4696 (~11m). The Centaurus cluster shares its supercluster, the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster, with IC4329 Cluster and Hydra Cluster.

The cluster consists of two different sub-groups of galaxies with different velocities.[3] Cen 30 is the main subgroup containing NGC 4696. Cen 45 is moving at 1500 km/s relative to Cen 30, and is believed to be merging with the main cluster.

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for Centaurus Cluster. Retrieved 2006-10-19. 
  2. ^ a b Abell, George O.; Corwin, Harold G., Jr.; Olowin, Ronald P. (May 1989). "A catalog of rich clusters of galaxies" (PDF). Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 70 (May 1989): 1–138. Bibcode:1989ApJS...70....1A. doi:10.1086/191333. ISSN 0067-0049. Retrieved March 13, 2012. 
  3. ^ Lucey J.R.; Currie M.J.; Dickens R.J. (1986). "The Centaurus cluster of galaxies. II - The bimodal velocity structure". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 221: 453–472. Bibcode:1986MNRAS.221..453L. doi:10.1093/mnras/221.2.453. 

Coordinates: Sky map 12h 48m 49.3s, −41° 18′ 40″