With the help of the VLT Survey Telescope, scientists have gotten a better look at a fiery furnace in the sky: the Fornax Cluster. The new image reveals a bit more about the pull of gravity that gathers galaxies together in a cluster.
Astronomers used the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory to take this latest picture. The VLT is designed specifically to conduct large surveys of the sky, which means that it's set apart from other telescopes.
Galaxy clusters can contain anything between about 100 and 1,000 galaxies, and they can be between about 5 and 30 million light-years across. With that said, these clusters don't come in neatly defined shapes. This makes it difficult to determine where exactly they begin and then end. However, scientists estimate that the center of the Fornax Cluster is about 65 million light-years from Earth. In all, the cluster contains about 60 large galaxies and around the same number of smaller dwarf galaxies.
At the center of the Fornax Cluster is what is known as a cD galaxy. This is effectively a galactic cannibal that grows by swallowing smaller galaxies that are drawn toward it by gravity. This particular galaxy can be seen in the image in the middle of the three fuzzy blobs on the left side.
Surprisingly, this act of galactic cannibalism may actually be in process. If you look closely enough, you can see a faint bridge of light between the cD galaxy, called NGC 1399, and a smaller galaxy called NGC 1387 at its right. This bridge is somewhat bluer than either galaxy, and it may be evidence that the larger galaxy is drawing material from the smaller galaxy into itself.
On the bottom right of the image, you can see the large barred spiral galaxy, called NGC 1365. You can see the bar passing through the central core of the galaxy, as well as the spiral arms emerging from the ends of the bar.
The new image reveals a bit more about this cluster by showing off the many galaxies within it. This, in turn, may tell researchers a bit more about this particular galaxy cluster, along with other galaxy clusters.
You can check out more images at ESO's website.
