ESO 146-5

ESO 146-5
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Indus
Right ascension	22h 01m 53.306s
Declination	−59° 56′ 43.373″
Redshift	0.10083
Distance	1.4 Gly
Characteristics
Type	E
Other designations
APMBGC 146+076+007, ENACS ACO 3827 11, 2MASX J22015330-5956437

ESO 146-5 (ESO 146-IG 005) is the designation given to a group of interacting giant elliptical galaxies in the center of the Abell 3827 cluster. The group is well noted due to their strong gravitational lensing effect.

Physical characteristics

The group of interacting galaxies was found 1.4 billion light years away in the center of Abell 3827. A huge halo of stars is surrounding to their interacting nuclei. The group has immense gravity that holds the cluster together due to its mass, and later observations have found it to be very rich with dark matter. The group's unusual shape has came into conclusion that each one of the nuclei was formed from multiple collisions of smaller galaxies, and now the nuclei was merging to form a single huge elliptical galaxy.

Mass

Observations from the Gemini South Telescope has shown that ESO 146-5 has gravitationally lensed two galaxies, a galaxy 2.7 billion light years away, and the other, 5.1 billion light years away. Using Einstein's theory of general relativity, the group was measured to be about 30 quadrillion solar masses, making it the most massive galaxy in the known universe.