天炉座星系团

2023年11月2日

The Fornax Cluster of Galaxies
Image Credit & Copyright: Marcelo Rivera

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’s over 20 times more distant than our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy, but only about 10 percent farther along than the better known and more populated Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Seen across this three 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 bottom center. A standout, large barred spiral galaxy, NGC 1365, is visible on the upper right as a prominent Fornax cluster member.

Tomorrow’s picture: opposite the Sun

天炉座星系团
影像提供与版权: Marcelo Rivera

说明: 因大部分成员在南天的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此星系团，其距离几乎比我们附近的仙女座星系要远20倍以上，但只比较著名成员也较多的室女座星系团，远约百分之十而已。纵目这片3度宽的视野，几乎每一个泛黄的斑点都是天炉座星系团里的椭圆星系。而位在视野中下方的明亮椭圆星系NGC 1399和NGC 1404，则是此星系团的主宰性成员。此外，影像右上角很吸睛的棒旋星系NGC 1365，也是天炉座星系团的大成员之一。 （Fornax Cluster 天炉座星系团）

明日的图片: opposite the Sun