  It is generally argued that most clusters of galaxies host cooling flows in
which radiative cooling in the centre causes a slow inflow. However, recent
observations by Chandra and XMM conflict with the predicted cooling flow rates.
Amongst other mechanisms, heating by a central active galactic nucleus and
thermal conduction have been invoked in order to account for the small mass
deposition rates. Here, we present a family of hydrostatic models for the
intra-cluster medium where radiative losses are exactly balanced by thermal
conduction and heating by a central source. We describe the features of this
simple model and fit its parameters to the density and temperature profiles of
Hydra A.
