“恃强凌弱”的星系

Located half a billion light-years from Earth, ESO 306-17, is a large, bright elliptical galaxy¹（椭圆星系） in the southern sky of a type known as a fossil group. Astronomers² use this term to emphasise³ the isolated⁴ nature of these galaxies⁵. However, are they like fossils — the last remnants（残余） of a once active community — or is it more sinister⁶（阴险的，凶兆的） than that? Did ESO 306-17 gobble up its next-door neighbours? Gravity brings galaxies together and bigger ones swallow smaller ones. There is evidence that our own Milky⁷ Way galaxy has "snacked" on numerous smaller galaxies that strayed（失散，闲荡） too close. ESO 306-17 and other fossil groups may be the most extreme examples of galaxy cannibalism⁸（吞食，同类相食） , ravenous⁹（贪婪的，渴望的） systems that don't stop until they've devoured¹⁰（毁灭，吞食） all of their neighbours.

In this image, taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard Hubble in November 2008, it appears that ESO 306-17 is surrounded by other galaxies, but the bright galaxies at bottom left are thought to be in the foreground, not at the same distance in the sky. In reality, ESO 306-17 lies fairly abandoned in an enormous sea of dark matter and hot gas. When zooming¹¹ in closely on ESO 306-17, one can see faint clusters（蔟，丛） of stars through the bright shine of the galaxy's large halo（光环） . These are globular clusters（球状星团） — tightly bound groups of stars that can often fend¹² off cannibalism from larger, "bully¹³" galaxies. Studying these surrounding clusters will prove helpful to astronomers in their pursuit to put the pieces of ESO 306-17's history together.

Researchers are also using this image to search for nearby ultra-compact dwarf¹⁴ galaxies（矮星系） . Ultra-compact dwarfs¹⁵ are mini versions of dwarf galaxies that have been left with only their core due to interaction with larger, more powerful galaxies. Most ultra-compact dwarfs discovered to date are located near giant elliptical galaxies in large clusters of galaxies, so it will be interesting to see if researchers find similar objects in fossil groups.