We present a Chandra observation of the central ( r < 200 kpc ) region of the cluster of galaxies 2A 0335+096 , rich in interesting phenomena .
On large scales ( r > 40 kpc ) , the X-ray surface brightness is symmetric and slightly elliptical .
The cluster has a cool dense core ; the radial temperature gradient varies with position angle .
The radial metallicity profile shows a pronounced central drop and an off-center peak .
Similarly to many clusters with dense cores , 2A 0335+096 hosts a cold front at r \approx 40 kpc south of the center .
The gas pressure across the front is discontinuous by a factor A _ { P } = 1.6 \pm 0.3 , indicating that the cool core is moving with respect to the ambient gas with a Mach number M \approx 0.75 \pm 0.2 .
The central dense region inside the cold front shows an unusual X-ray morphology , which consists of a number of X-ray blobs and/or filaments on scales \gtrsim 3 kpc , along with two prominent X-ray cavities .
The X-ray blobs are not correlated with either the optical line emission ( H \alpha + [ N ii ] ) , member galaxies or radio emission .
Deprojected temperature of the dense blobs is consistent with that of the less dense ambient gas , so these gas phases do not appear to be in thermal pressure equilibrium .
An interesting possibility is a significant , unseen non-thermal pressure component in the inter-blob gas , possibly arising from the activity of the central AGN .
We discuss two models for the origin of the gas blobs — hydrodynamic instabilities caused by the observed motion of the gas core , or “ bubbling ” of the core caused by multiple outbursts of the central AGN .