Astronomers using ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) in Chile have captured a stunning image of the distorted spiral galaxy NGC 3312.
This VST image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3312. Image credit: ESO / INAF / M. Spavone / E. Iodice.
NGC 3312 is located more than 160 million light-years from us in the constellation of Hydra.
Also known as ESO 501-43, IC 629, IRAS 10346-2718 or LEDA 31513, it was discovered by the English astronomer John Herschel on March 26, 1835.
NGC 3312 is the largest spiral galaxy in the Hydra I Cluster (Abell 1060), a galaxy cluster that contains over 150 bright galaxies.
The galaxy is losing cold gas as it moves through the hot gas within the cluster.
It was likely distorted by NGC 3309 and NGC 3311, which are the dominant elliptical galaxies in the cluster.
“This spiral galaxy, right at the center of this VST image, looks almost smudged across the screen, spilling its contents into the cosmos around it,” the ESO astronomers said in a statement.
“This is NGC 3312, falling victim to an astrophysical robbery: ram-pressure stripping.”
“This happens when a galaxy moves through a dense fluid, like the hot gas suspended between galaxies in a cluster,” they explained.
“This hot gas drags against the colder gas on the outer shell of the galaxy, pulling it off of the galaxy and causing it to leak into the cosmos.”
“This cold gas is the raw material out of which stars form, meaning galaxies losing gas this way risk a dwindling stellar population.”
“Affected galaxies — usually those falling into the center of clusters — tend to eventually form long tendrils of gas trailing behind them, leading to their nickname: jellyfish galaxies.”
“This is just one of the many astronomical processes that make pictures of the Universe so varied and captivating.”
Source : Breaking Science News