Cosmoview Episode 91: Dark Energy Camera Captures the Glittering Galaxies of the Antlia Cluster

The Antlia Cluster (Abell S636) is a group of at least 230 galaxies located about 130 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Antlia (the Air Pump). It hosts a rich variety of galaxy types, including lenticular galaxies, irregular galaxies and ultra-compact dwarfs. The cluster is dominated by two massive elliptical galaxies — NGC 3268 (center) and NGC 3258 (lower right).

This image was taken with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. It captures only a portion of the 230 galaxies that so far have been found to make up the Antlia Cluster. DECam’s ultra-deep view showcases the variety of galaxies within and beyond the cluster in incredible detail.