Hubble observes ram pressure stripping in galaxy JW100

The galaxy JW100 (decrease proper) options prominently on this picture from the NASA/ESA Hubble Area Telescope. The streams of star-forming fuel dripping from the disk of the galaxy like streaks of recent paint are shaped by a course of known as ram stress stripping. Their resemblance to dangling tentacles led astronomers to seek advice from JW100 as a “jellyfish” galaxy. JW100 is greater than 800 million light-years away, within the constellation Pegasus.

Ram stress stripping happens when galaxies encounter the diffuse fuel that pervades galaxy clusters. As galaxies plow by way of this tenuous fuel, it acts like a headwind, stripping fuel and dust from the galaxy and creating the trailing streamers that prominently adorn JW100. The intense elliptical patches within the picture are different galaxies within the cluster that hosts JW100.

Towards the highest of this picture are two vibrant blotches surrounded by a remarkably vibrant space of diffuse mild. That is the core of IC 5338, the brightest galaxy within the galaxy cluster. IC 5338 is an elliptical galaxy with an prolonged halo, a kind of galaxy known as a cD galaxy. These galaxies probably develop by consuming smaller galaxies, so it is commonplace for them to have a number of nuclei since it will possibly take a very long time for his or her cores to be absorbed. The intense factors of sunshine studding the galaxy’s outer fringes are a wealthy inhabitants of globular star clusters.

This statement took benefit of Hubble’s Vast Area Digicam 3 and its capabilities. The information is a part of a sequence of observations designed to discover star formation within the tendrils of jellyfish galaxies. These tendrils symbolize star formation underneath extreme conditions and will assist astronomers higher perceive the method of star formation elsewhere within the universe.