The discovery of large amounts of cold, X-ray absorbing matter in cooling flows

The discovery of significant excess absorption in the X-ray spectra of 12 clusters of galaxies is reported. The spectra also require a cooling-flow component, which confirms the results of imaging studies of the clusters showing the strongly peaked emission characteristic of cooling flows. The total mass of absorbing gas is determined on the assumption that it is distributed through the cooling flow region and has cosmic abundance. It is shown that the gas is most likely in the form of small cold clouds. The excess absorption is interpreted as being due to photoelectric absorption in cold gas clouds distributed through the cooling flows.