The Antlia Galaxy Cluster (S0636) rarely appears on Astrobin. Located in the southeastern region of Antlia, the cluster is part of the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster. The cluster lies at a distance of 132 mlys and is thus the third closest galaxy cluster after those in Virgo and Fornax. It contains over 300 galaxies (Kanipe and Webb 2016:229) and is categorized into northern and southern groups, with the northern group linked around the elliptical galaxy NGC 3268 and the southern group around the elliptical galaxy NGC 3258. With an 8 inch and good seeing, I've visually spotted the brighter members of the Antlia cluster.
I've been fascinated by this southern object given its close proximity as the third nearest cluster, and because it has generated a comparatively small amount of research and photography. Kanipe and Webb (2016) devote only three pages to it in their discussion of objects in Antlia.
This wide-field image of the cluster is at the edge of what is possible with 80mm given the vast distance involved. Nevertheless, in addition to the galaxies marked on the plate-solve, many more can be discerned in closely studying the image.
See here for a detailed visual report on the cluster:
https://astronomyandobservation.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-antlia-galaxy-cluster.htmlSee here for a fantastic deep image at the cluster:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161018.htmlThe cropped image below shows the northern group of the cluster, gravitationally bound around NGC3268 in the center:
The viewing perspective of the Antlia Galaxy Cluster from the Milky Way (courtesy SkySafari):
Comments