Ram Pressure Stripping And How Two Galaxies In The Virgo Cluster Are Just Losing It
There's drama in two galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, NGC 4522 and NGC 4402. An extremely hot X-ray emitting gas known as the intra-cluster medium lurks between galaxies within clusters and, as galaxies move through this intra-cluster medium, strong winds rip through galaxies distorting their shape and even halting star formation - a process known as "ram pressure stripping". Result: Peculiar looking galaxies. Ram pressure is the drag force that results when something moves through a fluid — much like the wind you feel in your face when bicycling, even on a still day — and occurs in this context as galaxies orbiting about the centre of the cluster move through the intra-cluster medium, which then sweeps out gas from within the galaxies. read more