Abell 3266 is a galaxy cluster in the southern sky that is part of the Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster. It is one of the largest in the southern sky, after Shapley Supercluster which has 28 galaxy clusters, and Sculptor Superclusters which has 25 galaxy clusters. The Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster has one of the largest mass concentrations in the nearby universe and has a total of 35 galaxy clusters.
The Department of Physics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County discovered that a large mass of gas is hurtling through the cluster at a speed of 750 km/s (466 miles/second). The mass is billions of solar masses, approximately 3 million light-years in diameter, and is the largest of its kind discovered as of June 2006.XMM-Newton Spots Greatest Ball Of FireXMM-Newton spots the greatest of great balls of fire
The Central Dominant galaxy of Abell 3266 (WISEA J043113.14-612712.3) is a large, bright, moderately elongated elliptical galaxy, with an effective radius of 98.44 kpc (approximately 321,000 light years) and an absolute magnitude of M_V = -24.51. Abell 3266 has at least 100++ confirmed members and has been reference in over 1400 scientific papers.
See also Abell catalogue List of Abell clusters X-ray astronomy
Gallery
References
External links Abel 3266 on SIMBAD