Astronomers used the VLA to look at how crowding affects the galaxies in the Perseus Cluster, which is about 240 million light-years from Earth. The results of these observations are published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

On the left is NGC 1275, which is at the core of the cluster and seen here in detail, including a newly-revealed complex, filamentary structure in its lobes. The center shows galaxy NGC 1265 and the effects of its motion through the material between the galaxies. You can see that its radio jets are bent backward and merge into a single, broad “tail,” which is further bent. Finally, on the right, the jets of the galaxy IC 310 are bent backward, similar to the center galaxy.

Marie-Lou Gendron-Marsolais, an ESO/ALMA Fellow in Santiago, Chile, said: These images show us previously-unseen structures and details and that helps our effort to determine the nature of these objects.

More Information

National Radio Astronomy Observatory press release 

“High-Resolution VLA Low Radio Frequency Observations of the Perseus Cluster: Radio Lobes, Mini-Halo and Bent-Jet Radio Galaxies,” Marie-Lou Gendron-Marsolais et al., 2020, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (preprint on arxiv.org)