Barred Spiral Galaxy ESO 137-001, Composite
The spiral galaxy ESO 137-001 looks like a dandelion caught in a breeze in this new composite image from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The galaxy is zooming toward the upper left of this image, in between other galaxies in the Norma cluster located over 200 million light-years away. The road is harsh: intergalactic gas in the Norma cluster is sparse, but so hot at 180 million degrees Fahrenheit that it glows. The spiral plows through the seething intra-cluster gas so rapidly -- at nearly million miles per hour -- much of its own gas is caught and torn away. Astronomers call this "ram pressure stripping." The galaxy's stars remain intact due to the binding force of their gravity. From a star-forming perspective, ESO 137-001 really is spreading its seeds into space like a dandelion in the wind. The stripped gas is now forming stars. However, the galaxy, drained of its own star-forming fuel, will have trouble making stars in the future. Through studying this runaway spiral, and other galaxies like it, astronomers hope to gain a better understanding of how galaxies form stars and evolve over time. Release date March 4, 2014.
Size: 3600px × 3600px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 137-001, 2014, 21st, 3627, astronomical, astronomy, barred, bell, body, celestial, century, cluster, composite, cosmography, cosmological, cosmology, cosmos, deep, eso, evolution, formation, galaxies, galaxy, heavenly, image, norma, object, pressure, ram, science, sky, space, spiral, star, starburst, stripping, universe
