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Fornax Cluster

Galaxy cluster in the constellation Fornax

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The Fornax Galaxy Cluster is one of the closest of such groupings beyond our Local Group of galaxies. This new VLT Survey Telescope image shows the central part of the cluster in great detail. At the
ESO. Acknowledgement: Aniello Grado and Luca Limatola · CC BY 4.0

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The Fornax Cluster is a particularly valuable source of information about the evolution of such clusters due to its relatively close proximity to the Sun. It also shows the gravitational effects of a merger of a galaxy subgroup with the main galaxy group, which in turn lends clues about the associated galactic superstructure. At the centre of the cluster lies NGC 1399. Other cluster members include NGC 1316 (the group's brightest galaxy), NGC 1365, NGC 1427A, NGC 1427 and NGC 1404.

Structure

Fornax can be divided into two subclusters: the main cluster, centered on NGC 1399, and a subgroup 3 degrees to the southwest centered on the lenticular galaxy NGC 1316 that is currently in the process of infalling with the largest subcluster to merge with it, and whose galaxies are experiencing relatively strong star formation activity.

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