= Intracluster medium
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= Intracluster gas
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The <intracluster medium> is diffuse hot plasma between the <galaxies> of a <galaxy cluster>. Its X-ray radiation includes <thermal bremsstrahlung> and atomic line emission. Measured <temperature> and density profiles supply a <cluster hydrostatic mass estimator> when approximately thermal <hydrostatic equilibrium> holds. The medium supplies much of a cluster's baryonic mass, but this need not equal its total gravitating mass.
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