Centaurus Cluster

Not to be confused with Hydra–Centaurus Supercluster or Centaurus A/M83 Group.
Centaurus Cluster
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Constellation(s)Centaurus
Right ascension12h 48m 51.8s[1]
Declination−41° 18′ 21″[1]
Brightest memberNGC 4696
Number of galaxies~100[1]
Richness class0[2]
Bautz–Morgan classificationI–II [2]
Redshift0.01140 (3 418 km/s)[1]
Distance52.4 Mpc (170.9 Mly) h−1
0.705[1]
X-ray flux15.7×10−11 erg s−1 cm−2 (0.5–2 keV) [1]
Other designations
Abell 3526[1]

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 which is centered on NGC 4709, is moving at 1500 km/s relative to Cen 30,[3] and is believed to be merging with the main cluster.[4]

  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". Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 70 (May 1989): 1–138. Bibcode:1989ApJS...70....1A. doi:10.1086/191333. ISSN 0067-0049.
  3. ^ a b 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 (2): 453–472. Bibcode:1986MNRAS.221..453L. doi:10.1093/mnras/221.2.453.
  4. ^ Churazov, E.; Gilfanov, M.; Forman, W.; Jones, C. (1999). "Evidence for Merging in the Centaurus Cluster". The Astrophysical Journal. 520 (1): 105. arXiv:astro-ph/9802166. Bibcode:1999ApJ...520..105C. doi:10.1086/307421. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 18552647.