The Quiescent Intracluster Medium in the Core of the Perseus Cluster

Understand

Clusters of galaxies are the most massive gravitationally-bound objects in the Universe and are still forming.

• They are thus important probes of cosmological parameters and a host of astrophysical processes.
• Knowledge of the dynamics of the pervasive hot gas, which dominates in mass over stars in a cluster, is a crucial missing ingredient.
• It can enable new insights into mechanical energy injection by the central supermassive black hole and the use of hydrostatic equilibrium for the determination of cluster masses.