Astronomers ESO’s Very Low Tilt Survey Telescope The Chilean VST satellite has captured a stunning image of the distorted spiral galaxy NGC 3312.
This VST image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3312. Image courtesy of ESO / INAF / M. Spavone / E. Iodice.
NGC 3312 It is located in the constellation Hydra and is more than 160 million light years away from Earth.
Also known as ESO 501-43, IC 629, IRAS 10346-2718, LEDA 31513, Found It was discovered on March 26, 1835 by British astronomer John Herschel.
NGC 3312 is Hydra I Cluster (Abell 1060) is a galaxy cluster containing over 150 luminous galaxies.
As galaxies move through the hotter gas in the cluster, they lose cooler gas.
It is likely distorted by the cluster’s main elliptical galaxies, NGC 3309 and NGC 3311.
“The spiral galaxy in the centre of this VST image appears fuzzy across the entire screen, seemingly leaking its contents into the surrounding space,” ESO astronomers said in a statement.
“This is NGC 3312, the victim of an astrophysical robbery: ram-pressure stripping.”
“This occurs when galaxies move through a dense fluid, such as the hot gas suspended between galaxies in a cluster,” the researchers explained.
“This hot gas is pulled by the cooler gas in the outer shell of the galaxy, causing it to be pulled out of the galaxy and leak out into space.”
“This cold gas is the raw material for star formation, which means that galaxies that are losing gas in this way are at risk of losing a decrease in their stellar population.”
“Affected galaxies, typically those that fall into the center of a cluster, tend to eventually form long trailing tendrils of gas behind them, which is where their nickname ‘jellyfish galaxies’ comes from.”
“This is just one of the many astronomical processes that make our cosmic pictures so diverse and fascinating.”
Source: www.sci.news
