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Hubble Finds Evidence of Stellar Close Encounters: Bright Blue Stars and Naked Cores
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By NASA
ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun The spiral galaxy in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is IC 3225. It looks remarkably as if it was launched from a cannon, speeding through space like a comet with a tail of gas streaming from its disk behind it. The scenes that galaxies appear in from Earth’s point of view are fascinating; many seem to hang calmly in the emptiness of space as if hung from a string, while others star in much more dynamic situations!
Appearances can be deceiving with objects so far from Earth — IC 3225 itself is about 100 million light-years away — but the galaxy’s location suggests some causes for this active scene, because IC 3225 is one of over 1,300 members of the Virgo galaxy cluster. The density of galaxies in the Virgo cluster creates a rich field of hot gas between them, called ‘intracluster medium’, while the cluster’s extreme mass has its galaxies careening around its center in some very fast orbits. Ramming through the thick intracluster medium, especially close to the cluster’s center, places enormous ‘ram pressure’ on the moving galaxies that strips gas out of them as they go.
As a galaxy moves through space, the gas and dust that make up the intracluster medium create resistance to the galaxy’s movement, exerting pressure on the galaxy. This pressure, called ram pressure, can strip a galaxy of its star-forming gas and dust, reducing or even stopping the creation of new stars. Conversely, ram pressure can also cause other parts of the galaxy to compress, which can boost star formation. IC 3225 is not so close to the cluster core right now, but astronomers have deduced that it has undergone ram pressure stripping in the past. The galaxy looks compressed on one side, with noticeably more star formation on that leading edge (bottom-left), while the opposite end is stretched out of shape (upper-right). Being in such a crowded field, a close call with another galaxy may also have tugged on IC 3225 and created this shape. The sight of this distorted galaxy is a reminder of the incredible forces at work on astronomical scales, which can move and reshape entire galaxies!
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By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Sees a Celestial… Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Sees a Celestial Cannonball
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy IC 3225. ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun The spiral galaxy in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is IC 3225. It looks remarkably as if it was launched from a cannon, speeding through space like a comet with a tail of gas streaming from its disk behind it. The scenes that galaxies appear in from Earth’s point of view are fascinating; many seem to hang calmly in the emptiness of space as if hung from a string, while others star in much more dynamic situations!
Appearances can be deceiving with objects so far from Earth — IC 3225 itself is about 100 million light-years away — but the galaxy’s location suggests some causes for this active scene, because IC 3225 is one of over 1,300 members of the Virgo galaxy cluster. The density of galaxies in the Virgo cluster creates a rich field of hot gas between them, called ‘intracluster medium’, while the cluster’s extreme mass has its galaxies careening around its center in some very fast orbits. Ramming through the thick intracluster medium, especially close to the cluster’s center, places enormous ‘ram pressure’ on the moving galaxies that strips gas out of them as they go.
As a galaxy moves through space, the gas and dust that make up the intracluster medium create resistance to the galaxy’s movement, exerting pressure on the galaxy. This pressure, called ram pressure, can strip a galaxy of its star-forming gas and dust, reducing or even stopping the creation of new stars. Conversely, ram pressure can also cause other parts of the galaxy to compress, which can boost star formation. IC 3225 is not so close to the cluster core right now, but astronomers have deduced that it has undergone ram pressure stripping in the past. The galaxy looks compressed on one side, with noticeably more star formation on that leading edge (bottom-left), while the opposite end is stretched out of shape (upper-right). Being in such a crowded field, a close call with another galaxy may also have tugged on IC 3225 and created this shape. The sight of this distorted galaxy is a reminder of the incredible forces at work on astronomical scales, which can move and reshape entire galaxies!
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 24, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble’s Galaxies
Hubble Focus: Galaxies through Space and Time
Hubble Focus: Galaxies through Space and Time
Hubble’s Partners in Science
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By NASA
NASA/Ben Smegelsky Clouds curling around the full “blue” moon gives the night sky an eerie feel in this image from Aug. 19, 2024. As seen here, a blue moon is not actually blue; the third full moon in a season with four full Moons is called a “blue” moon.
Another moon will be visible in the sky the morning of Oct. 25: Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, the destination of NASA’s recently launched Europa Clipper, will be easily observable with binoculars on one side of Jupiter by itself.
Get more skywatching tips.
Image credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
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By NASA
The NASA Ames Science Directorate recognizes the outstanding contributions of (pictured left to right) America Reyes Wang, Sepideh Khajehei, Julie Nottage, and Ryan Felton. Their commitment to the NASA mission represents the talent, camaraderie, and vision needed to explore this world and beyond.
Space Biosciences Star: America Reyes Wang
America Reyes Wang serves as the Space Biology Biospecimen Sharing Program (BSP) Lead in the Space Biosciences Research Branch, where she guides a team of support scientists and a logistics coordinator in planning and performing detailed, collaborative dissections to maximize the scientific return from biological investigations. Under her leadership, the BSP team has contributed over 5,000 samples to the NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC), approximately half of which were collected in the last 10 months.
Earth Science Star: Sepideh Khajehei
Sepideh Khajehei is a NASA Earth eXchange (NEX) Data and Research Scientist in the Biospheric Science Branch, for the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute. She is recognized for her dedicated support of the NASA Administrator’s Earth Information Center, and recently for her outstanding support for an urgent request to revise climate indices just days before the October 7, 2024, opening of NASA’s Hometown Climate Dashboard at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
Space Science & Astrobiology Star: Julie Nottage
Julie Nottage continuously goes above and beyond in her role as the Space and Earth Sciences Facilities Service Manager. She keeps a multi-use interdisciplinary science building running across all aspects of operations and is the go-to person for any problem. Her can-do approach and wealth of knowledge ensures the facility’s high-quality operation that enables scientists and engineers to focus on their research and instrument work. Her quality work and extensive coordination of the Voluntary Protection Program allowed these month-long inspections to run smoothly with an improved safety outcome.
Space Science & Astrobiology Star: Ryan Felton
Ryan Felton, a NASA Postdoctoral Management Fellow with the Exobiology Branch, is recognized for his successful coordination of an engaging community-wide seminar series focused on Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML). This seminar series featured four speakers so far over six months on a variety of exciting topics to advance AI/ML knowledge and use in the branch’s research.
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By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Captures a New View of… Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Captures a New View of Galaxy M90
This eye-catching image offers us a new view of the spiral galaxy Messier 90 from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, J This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the striking spiral galaxy Messier 90 (M90, also NGC 4569), located in the constellation Virgo. In 2019, Hubble released an image of M90 created with Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) data taken in 1994, soon after its installation. That WFPC2 image has a distinctive stair-step pattern due to the layout of its sensors. Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) replaced WFPC2 in 2009 and Hubble used WFC3 when it turned its aperture to Messier 90 again in 2019 and 2023. That data resulted in this stunning new image, providing a much fuller view of the galaxy’s dusty disk, its gaseous halo, and its bright core.
The inner regions of M90’s disk are sites of star formation, seen here in red H-alpha light from nebulae. M90 sits among the galaxies of the relatively nearby Virgo Cluster, and its orbit took M90 on a path near the cluster’s center about three hundred million years ago. The density of gas in the inner cluster weighed on M90 like a strong headwind, stripping enormous quantities of gas from the galaxy and creating the diffuse halo we see around it. This gas is no longer available to form new stars in M90, with the spiral galaxy eventually fading as a result.
M90 is located 55 million light-years from Earth, but it’s one of the very few galaxies getting closer to us. Its orbit through the Virgo cluster has accelerated so much that M90 is in the process of escaping the cluster entirely. By happenstance, it’s moving in our direction. Astronomers have measured other galaxies in the Virgo cluster at similar speeds, but in the opposite direction. As M90 continues to move toward us over billions of years, it will also be evolving into a lenticular galaxy.
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Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Science Mission Directorate Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Messier 90
This beautiful spiral is expected to evolve into a lenticular galaxy.
Hubble’s Messier Catalog
Hubble’s Caldwell Catalog
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