Abell 3266

{{Short description|Galaxy cluster in the constellation of Reticulum}}

{{Infobox galaxy cluster

| name = Abell 3266

| image =

| caption =

| credit =

| epoch = J2000

| constellation = Reticulum

| ra = {{RA|04|31|12}}{{cite web

| title=HEASARC Browse

| work=Result for Abell 3266

| url=http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/db-perl/W3Browse/w3table.pl?tablehead=name%3Dabell

| access-date=2010-10-03}}

| dec = {{DEC|-61|28|00}}

| brightest_member =

| member_no =

| richness = 2{{cite journal

| last1 = Abell

| first1 = George O.

| authorlink1 = George O. Abell

| last2 = Corwin

| first2 = Harold G. Jr.

| authorlink2 = Harold G. Corwin

| last3 = Olowin

| first3 = Ronald P.

| authorlink3 = Ronald P. Olowin

|date=May 1989

| title = A catalog of rich clusters of galaxies

| journal = Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

| volume = 70

| issue = May 1989

| pages = 1–138

| format = PDF

| issn = 0067-0049

| bibcode = 1989ApJS...70....1A

| doi = 10.1086/191333

| access-date = March 13, 2012

| url = http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1989ApJS...70....1A&page_ind=0&epage_ind=137&type=PRINTER&data_type=PDF_HIGH&email=&emailsize=500&emailsplit=YES&send=GET&verified=YES

| doi-access = free

}}

| bmtype = I-II

| velocity_dispersion =

| redshift = 0.05890 (17 658 km/s){{cite web

| url = http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/nph-objsearch?objname=Abell+3266&extend=no

| title = NED results for object ABELL 3266

| publisher = NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED)

| access-date = March 17, 2012

}}

| distance = {{convert|248|Mpc|Mly|0|abbr=on|lk=on}} {{hub|0.705}}

| temperature =

| mass =

| luminosity =

| flux = 3.5{{e|-11}} erg s⁻¹ cm⁻² (0.5–2 keV)

| other_names =

}}

Abell 3266 is a galaxy cluster in the southern sky. It is part of the Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster. The galaxy cluster is one of the largest in the southern sky, and one of the largest mass concentrations in the nearby universe.

The Department of Physics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County discovered that a large mass of gas is hurtling through the cluster at a speed of 750 km/s (466 miles/second). The mass is billions of solar masses, approximately 3 million light-years in diameter and is the largest of its kind discovered as of June 2006.[http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/XMM_Newton_Spots_Greatest_Ball_Of_Fire.html XMM-Newton Spots Greatest Ball Of Fire][http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMWD1AATME_index_0.html XMM-Newton spots the greatest of great balls of fire]