The central density and temperature of the intracluster gas in 36 clusters of galaxies have been determined by deprojection of the X-ray surface brightness distribution. The cooling time of the gas in half of these clusters is less than a Hubble time (H₀ = 50 km s⁻¹Mpc⁻¹). For these clusters mass inflow rates between 2 and 400 M_sun; year⁻¹ are derived. These cooling flows may provide a significant fraction of the mass of the central cD galaxies.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Stewart et al. (1984) studied this question.