#RAM PRESSURE STRIPPING MASS FULL#

But the astronomers needed Hubble observations to confirm that the hot hydrogen gas contained in the tail was a signature of star formation. The Subaru Telescope observed the glowing tail in 2007 during a survey of the Coma cluster’s galaxies. They found that the brightest clump in the middle of the tail contains at least 200,000 stars, triggered by the ongoing gas loss from the galaxy. The main goal of the astronomers was to study star formation along the tail of D100. With no magnetic fields, the tail is more clumpy than filamentary.” Computer simulations show that magnetic fields form filaments in the tail’s gas. The clean edges and filamentary structures of the tail suggest that magnetic fields play a prominent role in shaping it. “Most galaxies undergoing this process are more of a mess. Jeffrey Kenney, also from Yale University. This is a surprise because a tail like this is not seen in most computer simulations,” said Dr. “The tail is remarkably well-defined, straight and smooth, and has clear edges. In addition, the tail is narrow, only 7,000 light-years wide. Its long, thin tail, for example, extends nearly 200,000 light-years - about the length of two Milky Way galaxies. In the massive Coma cluster, this violent gas-loss process occurs in many galaxies.īut D100 is unique. Once the galaxy loses all of its hydrogen gas - fuel for starbirth - it meets an untimely death because it can no longer create new stars. The material pushes gas and dust from the galaxy. This process, called ‘ ram-pressure stripping,’ occurs when a galaxy, due to the pull of gravity, falls toward the dense center of a massive cluster of thousands of galaxies, which swarm around like a hive of bees.ĭuring its plunge, the galaxy plows through intergalactic material, like a boat moving through water. This phenomenon has been known about for several decades, but Hubble provides the best imagery of galaxies undergoing this process.” “The spiral arms disappear, and the galaxy is left with no gas and only old stars. William Cramer, an astronomer at Yale University.

#RAM PRESSURE STRIPPING MASS FULL#

“D100 stands out as a particularly extreme example of processes common in massive clusters, where a galaxy goes from being a healthy spiral full of star formation to a ‘red and dead galaxy’,” said Dr. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Cramer et al. It shows just a part of the spectacular tail emerging from the spiral galaxy D100.

This striking image combines data gathered with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii.

Ram pressure stripping mass