3C 438 is a Seyfert galaxy and Fanaroff and Riley class II radio galaxy[1][2] located in the constellation Cygnus.

The radio galaxy has two lobes and there is a radio jet leading to the south lobe, which also has a prominent double hot spot.

[4] 3C 438 is a member of a galaxy cluster and three galaxies are located close to it, the closest one being 4 arcseconds to the northeast.

[5] The galaxy cluster has been found when observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory to have hot intergalactic gas, with a temperature of about 11 KeV, which when discovered in 2007 was the highest ever found, slightly hotter than the Bullet Cluster.

[6] The high temperature is the result of the merger of two galaxy clusters, as the relative movement of one subcluster has created a bow shock in the hot gas.