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Abell 2744

Galaxy cluster in the constellation Sculptor / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora's Cluster, is a giant galaxy cluster resulting from the simultaneous pile-up of at least four separate, smaller galaxy clusters that took place over a span of 350 million years, and is located approximately 4 billion light years from Earth.[1] The galaxies in the cluster make up less than five percent of its mass.[1] The gas (around 20 percent) is so hot that it shines only in X-rays.[1] Dark matter makes up around 75 percent of the cluster's mass.[1]

Quick facts: Abell 2744, Observation data (Epoch J2000), C...
Abell 2744
Pandora%27s_Cluster_%E2%80%93_Abell_2744.jpg
Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora's Cluster. The galaxies in the cluster make up less than five percent of its mass. The gas (around 20 percent) is so hot that it shines only in X-rays (coloured red in this image). The distribution of invisible dark matter (making up around 75 percent of the cluster's mass) is coloured here in blue.
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Constellation(s)Sculptor
Right ascension00h 14m 19.51s [1]
Declination−30° 23 19.18 [1]
Richness class3[2]
Bautz–Morgan classificationIII[2]
Redshift0.30800[3]
Distance1,221 Mpc (3,982 Mly) h1
0.705
[3]
X-ray flux(5.805 ± 4.7%)×10−13 erg s−1 cm−2 (0.1–2.4 keV) [3]
Other designations
Pandora's Cluster
See also: Galaxy group, Galaxy cluster, List of galaxy groups and clusters
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This cluster also shows a radio halo along with several other Abell clusters. It has a strong central halo, along with an extended tail, which could either be relic radiation, or an extension of the central halo.[4]

Renato Dupke, a member of the team that discovered the Cluster, explained the origin of the name in an interview: "We nicknamed it ‘Pandora's Cluster’ because so many different and strange phenomena were unleashed by the collision."[5]