The Centaurus Cluster (A3526) is a
cluster of hundreds of
galaxies, located approximately 170 million
light-year
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astr ...
s away in the
Centaurus
Centaurus () is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one ...
constellation. The brightest member galaxy is the
elliptical galaxy
An elliptical galaxy is a type of galaxy with an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth, nearly featureless image. They are one of the three main galaxy morphological classification, classes of galaxy described by Edwin Hubble in his Hub ...
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.
Cen 30 is the main subgroup containing
NGC 4696. Cen 45 which is centered on
NGC 4709, is moving at 1500 km/s relative to Cen 30,
and is believed to be merging with the main cluster.
Gallery
File:NGC 4696 (captured by the Hubble Space Telescope).jpg, NGC 4696: a cosmic question mark
File:Centaurus cluster.jpg, Chandra
Chandra (), also known as Soma (), is the Hindu god of the Moon, and is associated with the night, plants and vegetation. He is one of the Navagraha (nine planets of Hinduism) and Dikpala (guardians of the directions).
Etymology and other ...
X-ray
An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...
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
The kelvin (symbol: K) is the base unit for temperature in the International System of Units (SI). The Kelvin scale is an absolute temperature scale that starts at the lowest possible temperature (absolute zero), taken to be 0 K. By de ...
s.
File:NGC 4706 NGC 4709 legacy dr10.jpg, alt=, Region around NGC 4709 (large galaxy in the middle) in the western part of the Centaurus Cluster.
File:NGC 4729 NGC 4730 NGC 4743 legacy dr10.jpg, alt=, East part of the Centaurus Cluster with NGC 4729, NGC 4730 and NGC 4743.
See also
*
Abell catalogue
*
List of Abell clusters
*
X-ray astronomy
X-ray astronomy is an observational branch of astronomy which deals with the study of X-ray observation and detection from astronomical objects. X-radiation is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, so instruments to detect X-rays must be taken to ...
References
External links
*
*
3526
Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster
Abell richness class 0
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