天炉座星系团

2022年1月29日

The Fornax Cluster of Galaxies
Image Credit & Copyright: Marco Lorenzi, Angus Lau, Tommy Tse

Explanation: Named for the southern constellation toward which most of its galaxies can be found, the Fornax Cluster is one of the closest clusters of galaxies. About 62 million light-years away, it is almost 20 times more distant than our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy, and only about 10 percent farther than the better known and more populated Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Seen across this two degree wide field-of-view, almost every yellowish splotch on the image is an elliptical galaxy in the Fornax cluster. Elliptical galaxies NGC 1399 and NGC 1404 are the dominant, bright cluster members toward the upper left (but not the spiky foreground stars). A standout barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is visible on the lower right as a prominent Fornax cluster member.

Tomorrow’s picture: miasma of plasma

天炉座星系团
影像提供与版权: Marco Lorenzi, Angus Lau, Tommy Tse

说明: 因大部分成员在南天．天炉座方向而得名的天炉座星系团，是离地球最近的星系团之一。约6千2百万光年远的这个星系团，其距离比邻近的仙女大星系约要远20倍，但只比较著名、成员也较多的室女星系团约远上百分之十而已。在这幅2度宽的影像里，纵目可见的每一个泛黄斑块，几乎都是天炉座星系团里的椭圆星系。左上角的明亮椭圆星系NGC 1399和NGC 1404，为其内最大的成员；带芒的天体为前景恒星。右下角的棒旋星系NGC 1365，则是天炉座星系团最吸睛的成员星系。

明日的图片: miasma of plasma