Abell 1126 - Galaxy Cluster
Abell 1126 is a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Leo, which is over 1 billion light-years away from Earth and moves away from us by another
24,100 km every second. Its redshift is given as z= 0.084.
The brightest galaxy in the cluster has the designation LEDA 32713 and is 15.1 mag bright. Using the known distance, this results in an absolute
magnitude of M= -22.6mag, which corresponds to a luminosity of 90 billion suns. With a diameter of 180,000 light-years, it is slightly smaller than
Messier 87 and belongs to the group of super ellipses.
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In my 20" f/3.2 telescope, over 10 galaxies are visible at a magnification of 380x, but only with averted vision. The brightest Gx appears elongated at
first, but then reveals a second, fainter galaxy directly next to it (merger?). An increased density of galaxies can also be seen towards the center.
There are some faint stars to the south of the cluster, which make orientation much easier.
