Atomic Gas in Fornax A

VLA atomic hydrogen of the central dominant galaxy of the Fornax Cluster, Fornax A (a.k.a. NGC 1316). The gas is shown as blue contours on an optical image from the Digital Sky Survey. The main body of the Fornax A is typical of early type galaxies, but at fainter light levels the galaxy exhibits a peculiar morphology, with many shells, ripples and loops. The VLA spectral line observations show gas associated with the galaxy NGC 1317 just to the north, the barred galaxy NGC 1310 to the west, and in several small clounds around the main body of NGC 1316. Its possible that the gas clouds are left over from a merger event which fueled the central radio source.

Radio data are VLA DnC-array observations at 54"x43" resolution. HI contours start at a level of 2x10¹⁹ atoms cm^-2, with successive contours a factor of two higher.

Legacy Astronomical Images

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Legacy Astronomical Image

NGC1316

C. Horellou, J. Black, J. van Gorkom, F. Combes, J. van der Hulst, V. Charmandaris

Very Large Array (VLA)

1985-10-19

spectral line

21 cm

1420.4 MHz

HI

RA 3:22:10.300, Dec: -37:12:12.000 (J2000)

0.550000 x 0.450000 degrees

Galaxies Series

Early-type Unit