Suggested Searches

1 min read

A Disintegrating Galaxy Plows Through Space

A Disintegrating Galaxy Plows Through Space
This is an artist's conception of the spiral galaxy C153. The galaxy looks peculiar because it is plowing through the heart of a distant galaxy cluster at 4.5 million miles per hour. Gas compressed along the galaxy's leading edge, like snow before a plow, ignited a firestorm of new star birth. The ram pressure of external hot gas trapped in the cluster is stripping away the galaxy's own cooler gas, leaving behind its skeletal spiral arms of dust and stars. The galaxy trails a 200,000-light-year-long streamer of gas bleeding off the disk. In this painting the streamers appear foreshortened in this head-on view of the approaching galaxy. This painting is based on observations from optical, radio and X-ray telescopes. Parallel observations at different wavelengths trace how stars, gas, and dust are being tossed around and torn from the fragile galaxy.
  • Release Date
    January 6, 2004
  • Science Release
    Too Fast, Too Furious: A Galaxy’s Fatal Plunge
  • Credit
    Credit: NASA and A. Schaller

Downloads

  • PDF
    (1.65 MB)
  • 3000 × 2400
    jpg (428.5 KB)
  • 200 × 200
    jpg (7.47 KB)
  • 350 × 246
    jpg (18.53 KB)
  • 712 × 558
    jpg (51 KB)

Share

Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov