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Phoenix Cluster
The Phoenix Cluster (SPT-CL J2344−4243) is a massive, Abell-class type I galaxy cluster in the southern constellation Phoenix. It was detected in 2010 during a 2,500-square-degree survey of the southern sky conducted by the South Pole Telescope collaboration using the Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect.
The cluster is among the most massive and most X-ray-luminous galaxy clusters known, with an estimated mass of approximately (1.26–2.5)×1015 M☉. It has a redshift of approximately 0.597 and lies at a present comoving distance of about 8.61 billion light-years (2.64 gigaparsecs) from Earth. The SIMBAD Astronomical Database lists 42 identified member galaxies, although estimates of the cluster's total galaxy population are substantially higher.
The Phoenix Cluster was first reported by R. Williamson and colleagues as part of a survey conducted with the South Pole Telescope in Antarctica. It was one of 26 galaxy clusters identified in the survey, which observed the sky at frequencies of 95, 150, and 220 GHz. Fourteen of the clusters had been identified previously, while the remaining twelve, including the Phoenix Cluster, were new discoveries.
At the time of its discovery, the cluster was identified by its catalogue designation, SPT-CL J2344−4243. The survey described it as having the highest X-ray luminosity of any cluster in the sample. A bright type 2 Seyfert galaxy, identified as 2MASX J23444387−4243124, was detected approximately 19 arcseconds from the apparent centre of the cluster. The galaxy was later named Phoenix A and identified as the cluster's central galaxy.
The Phoenix Cluster is a cool-core cluster with an unusually luminous X-ray-emitting intracluster medium. A multiwavelength study led by Michael McDonald derived a classical cooling-flow rate of 3820±530 M☉ per year, among the highest values reported for a galaxy-cluster core. The same study estimated that the central galaxy was forming stars at a rate of 740±160 M☉ per year.
Later observations showed that the measured cooling rate depends on the temperature range and method used. An analysis of deep XMM-Newton observations measured a mass-deposition rate of approximately 620 M☉ per year between 0.3 and 3.0 keV using one set of detectors, while obtaining lower values and upper limits for gas cooling at the lowest X-ray temperatures. These measurements indicate that only part of the gas represented by the classical cooling-flow estimate is observed to reach the lowest temperatures.
Hubble Space Telescope observations revealed filamentary blue emission extending more than 40 kiloparsecs from Phoenix A. The emission was attributed primarily to young stars rather than scattered light or a large-scale ionised outflow from the active nucleus. The observations produced an extinction-corrected star-formation rate of 798±42 M☉ per year.
The central starburst is substantially more active than star formation in the Milky Way or in NGC 1275, the central galaxy of the Perseus Cluster. Some starburst galaxies at higher redshifts nevertheless have still greater star-formation rates.
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Phoenix Cluster
The Phoenix Cluster (SPT-CL J2344−4243) is a massive, Abell-class type I galaxy cluster in the southern constellation Phoenix. It was detected in 2010 during a 2,500-square-degree survey of the southern sky conducted by the South Pole Telescope collaboration using the Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect.
The cluster is among the most massive and most X-ray-luminous galaxy clusters known, with an estimated mass of approximately (1.26–2.5)×1015 M☉. It has a redshift of approximately 0.597 and lies at a present comoving distance of about 8.61 billion light-years (2.64 gigaparsecs) from Earth. The SIMBAD Astronomical Database lists 42 identified member galaxies, although estimates of the cluster's total galaxy population are substantially higher.
The Phoenix Cluster was first reported by R. Williamson and colleagues as part of a survey conducted with the South Pole Telescope in Antarctica. It was one of 26 galaxy clusters identified in the survey, which observed the sky at frequencies of 95, 150, and 220 GHz. Fourteen of the clusters had been identified previously, while the remaining twelve, including the Phoenix Cluster, were new discoveries.
At the time of its discovery, the cluster was identified by its catalogue designation, SPT-CL J2344−4243. The survey described it as having the highest X-ray luminosity of any cluster in the sample. A bright type 2 Seyfert galaxy, identified as 2MASX J23444387−4243124, was detected approximately 19 arcseconds from the apparent centre of the cluster. The galaxy was later named Phoenix A and identified as the cluster's central galaxy.
The Phoenix Cluster is a cool-core cluster with an unusually luminous X-ray-emitting intracluster medium. A multiwavelength study led by Michael McDonald derived a classical cooling-flow rate of 3820±530 M☉ per year, among the highest values reported for a galaxy-cluster core. The same study estimated that the central galaxy was forming stars at a rate of 740±160 M☉ per year.
Later observations showed that the measured cooling rate depends on the temperature range and method used. An analysis of deep XMM-Newton observations measured a mass-deposition rate of approximately 620 M☉ per year between 0.3 and 3.0 keV using one set of detectors, while obtaining lower values and upper limits for gas cooling at the lowest X-ray temperatures. These measurements indicate that only part of the gas represented by the classical cooling-flow estimate is observed to reach the lowest temperatures.
Hubble Space Telescope observations revealed filamentary blue emission extending more than 40 kiloparsecs from Phoenix A. The emission was attributed primarily to young stars rather than scattered light or a large-scale ionised outflow from the active nucleus. The observations produced an extinction-corrected star-formation rate of 798±42 M☉ per year.
The central starburst is substantially more active than star formation in the Milky Way or in NGC 1275, the central galaxy of the Perseus Cluster. Some starburst galaxies at higher redshifts nevertheless have still greater star-formation rates.
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