3C 401 is a powerful

radio galaxy A radio galaxy is a galaxy with giant regions of radio emission extending well beyond its visible structure. These energetic radio lobes are powered by jets from its active galactic nucleus. They have luminosities up to 1039 W at radio wav ...

located in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Draco DRACO (double-stranded RNA activated caspase oligomerizer) is a group of experimental antiviral drugs formerly under development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In cell culture, DRACO was reported to have broad-spectrum efficacy aga ...

. It is near the center of a rich

cluster of galaxies A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxy, galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. Clusters consist o ...

and dominates the cluster. That is, it is the

type-cD galaxy The type-cD galaxy (also cD-type galaxy, cD galaxy) is a galaxy morphology classification, a subtype of type-D galaxy, type-D Elliptical galaxy#Sizes and shapes, giant elliptical galaxy. Characterized by a large galactic halo, halo of stars, the ...

of its cluster. It has a double nucleus, indicating that it is merging with another galaxy. 3C 401 is classified as a Fanaroff and Riley class II radio source (FR II), but has characteristics of both types of sources. FR II radio sources are brightest at the ends of their radio lobes while FR I sources are brightest toward their centers. 3C 401 has hot spots at the ends of its two extended radio lobes, but also has a bright one-sided jet like a FR I source. The spectra of this jet is also intermediate between the spectra of jets in the two types of sources.

References

Draco (constellation)

401 __NOTOC__ Year 401 ( CDI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vincentius and Fravitus (or, less frequently, year 1154 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

2605547 60.29 1939+605 Radio galaxies {{galaxy-stub