Dane Kleiner (Osservatorio Astronomico Cagliari - Inaf)

Dane Kleiner Colloquium: MeerKAT early science of the Fornax galaxy Cluster.

Marsfield lecture theatre

Abstract

I will present new results from MeerKAT commissioning observations of the Fornax galaxy cluster. In preparation for the upcoming MeerKAT Fornax Survey, we have observed the cluster centre and the giant merger remnant Fornax A (NGC 1316). We detect 14 times more HI emission in Fornax A than previous observations. HI is observed at a variety of scales, from the galaxy centre to its large scale environment. The new HI has constrained the merger history of Fornax A and is consistent with a 10:1 merger ~ 3 Gyr ago, between a dominant, gas-poor early-type galaxy and a smaller, gas-rich spiral. One particular feature that I will describe in detail, is a 2 kpc long multi-phase gas filament, located along a bridge of the two giant (AGN emission) radio lobes. The filament has components of ionised gas, cool gas, and dust. It is currently in contention whether the filament is related to star formation or rather to the interaction of the interstellar medium with (or the cooling of) hot plasma associated with the AGN activity.