The Antlia Cluster of Galaxies
Image Credit & Copyright:
Image Credit & Copyright:
Rolf Olsen
Galaxies dot the sky in this impressively wide and deep image of the Antlia Cluster.
The third closest cluster of galaxies to Earth after
Virgo and
Fornax, the
Antlia cluster is known for its compactness and its high fraction of
elliptical galaxies over
(spirals.
Antlia, cataloged as
Abell S0636, spans about 2 million light years and lies about 130 million
light years
away toward the constellation of the Air Pump
(Antlia).
The cluster has two prominent galaxy groups - bottom center and upper left -- among its over 200 galactic members, but no single
central dominant galaxy.
The vertical red ribbon of gas on the left is thought related to the foreground
Antlia supernova remnant and not associated with the cluster.
The featured image composite, taken from
New Zealand,
resulted from 150+ hours of exposures taken over six months.