Astronomers using the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on Víctor M. Blanco 4-m Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a program of NSF’s NOIRLab, have observed galaxies in the heart of the Fornax Cluster.
Members of the Fornax Cluster fill this image from the Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-m Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / J. Miller, Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.
The Fornax Cluster is located about 60 million light-years away in the southern hemisphere constellation of Fornax.
Also known as ACO S 373 or MCL 52, it is one of the richest and closest galaxy clusters to our Milky Way Galaxy.
It contains over 600 member galaxies, including at least 60 large galaxies.
“Two elliptical galaxies dominate the center of the DECam image — visible as the two large patches of diffuse light with bright cores,” said astronomers from NSF’s NOIRLab.
“Such galaxies usually contain much older stars than the more picturesque spiral galaxies, and they tend to be found in galaxy clusters such as the Fornax Cluster.”
“These elliptical galaxies, NGC 1399 and NGC 1404, are among the brightest members of the Fornax Cluster and are inexorably being drawn together by the force of gravity.”
“This interaction is stripping gas from NGC 1404, the lower elliptical galaxy in this image.”
In the bottom left corner of the new image appears an irregular galaxy called NGC 1427A.
“This ragged patch of light is a small, irregular collection of stars similar to the Large Magellanic Cloud,” the astronomers said.
“Similarly to NGC 1404, NGC 1427A is plunging toward the heart of the cluster at roughly 2.2 million km per hour (1.3 million mph).
“This headlong rush to destruction will eventually result in the galaxy being disrupted — pulled apart by gravitational interactions with other galaxies.”
