Perseus Cluster

The Perseus Cluster (Abell 426) is a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Perseus. It has a red shift of 5,366 km/s and a diameter of 863′.^[1] The galaxy cluster is the brightest cluster in the sky when observed in the X-ray band^[2].

The cluster contains the radio source 3C 84 that is currently blowing bubbles of relativistic plasma into the core of the cluster. These are seen as holes in an X-ray image of the cluster, as they push away the X-ray emitting gas. They are known as radio bubbles, because they appear as emitters of radio waves due to the relativistic particles in the bubble. The galaxy NGC 1275 is located at the centre of the cluster, where the X-ray emission is brightest.

In 2003, astronomers detected the deepest note ever generated in the cosmos, a B♭, after 53 hours of Chandra observations^[3]. No human will actually hear the note, because it is 57 octaves below the keys in the middle of a piano. The sound waves appear to be generated by the inflation of bubbles of relativistic plasma by the central active galactic nucleus in NGC 1275. They are visible as ripples in the X-ray band using Chandra X-ray Observatory, as the X-ray brightness of the intracluster medium that fills the cluster is strongly dependent on the density of the plasma.

References

• The galaxy cluster Abell 426 (Perseus). A catalogue of 660 galaxy positions, isophotal magnitudes and morphological types, Brunzendorf, J.; Meusinger, H., Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement, v.139, p.141-161, 1999.

• Space.com article about "Sound of a Black Hole." in the Perseus Cluster

• http://aida.astroinfo.org/

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for Perseus Cluster. http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/. Retrieved 2006-11-28. 
2. ^ Edge A.C., Stewart G.C., Fabian A.C., Properties of cooling flows in a flux limited sample of clusters of galaxies, 1992, MNRAS, 258, 177
3. ^ Fabian A.C., et al., A Deep Chandra observation of the Perseus cluster: shocks and ripples, 2003, MNRAS, 344, L43

External links

• The Perseus Cluster on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images
• Astronomy picture of the day (APOD) talking about sound waves in Perseus, earlier APOD
• Fabian, A.C., et al. A deep Chandra observation of the Perseus cluster: shocks and ripples. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Vol. 344 (2003): L43 (arXiv:astro-ph/0306036v2).

Coordinates: 03^h 19^m 48.1^s, +41° 30′ 42″