A3827: Cluster Cannibal
Explanation:
It was mealtime in galaxy cluster
Abell 3827. The hungry cluster dominant
galaxy in
A3827's center is seen being fed.
Breakfast included five smaller galaxies
unfortunate enough to wander too close to the
cluster's central supergiant galaxy.
The remnants of these five galaxies can be seen in the
center of this false-color picture. A single
massive galaxy dominates the centers of many compact
clusters of galaxies.
A3827 is so distant, having a
redshift
of 0.1, that light takes about
1.5 billion years to get here from there.
We are therefore seeing this cluster only
as it existed 1.5 billion years ago,
so that these five galaxies are probably by now all
digested into the
huge cluster center.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
