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M86 (NGC 4406):
Cluster's Gain is Galaxy's Loss
This composite X-ray (blue)/optical (orange) image of M86
shows gas being swept out of the galaxy to form a long tail more than
200,000 light years in length. Located in the Virgo galaxy cluster,
this enormous elliptical galaxy is moving at about 3 million miles
per hour through diffuse hot gas that pervades the cluster. The supersonic
motion of M86 produces pressure that is stripping gas from the galaxy
and forming the spectacular tail.
M86 has been pulled into the Virgo galaxy cluster and accelerated
to a high speed by the enormous combined gravity of dark matter, hot
gas, and hundreds of galaxies that comprise the cluster. The infall
of the galaxy into the cluster is an example of the process by which
galaxy groups and galaxy clusters form over the course of billions
of years.
The galaxy is no longer an "island universe" with an
independent existence. It has been captured and its gas is being
swept away to mix with the gas of the cluster, leaving an essentially
gas-free galaxy orbiting the center of the cluster along with hundreds
of other galaxies.
M86 is an unusual galaxy in that it is one of a small number of
galaxies that are moving toward Earth, rather than receding with
the general expansion of the Universe. This expansion is carrying
the Virgo cluster away from us at a speed of about 2 million miles
per hour, but M86 is falling into the Virgo cluster from the far
side of the cluster, giving it a net velocity of about one million
miles per hour toward Earth.
| Fast
Facts for M86 (NGC 4406): |
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Credit
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X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/C. Jones,
W. Forman, & S. Murray. Optical: Pal.Obs. DSS |
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Scale
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Image is 15 x 23 arcmin |
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Category
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Normal
Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies
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Coordinates
(J2000)
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RA 12h 26m 12.00s | Dec +12º
57' 00.00" |
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Constellation
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Virgo |
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Observation
Date
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April 07, 2000 |
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Observation
Time
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8.3 hours |
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Obs.
ID
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318, 963 |
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Color
Code
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X-ray (Blue); Optical (Orange
& Yellow) |
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Instrument
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ACIS
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Distance
Estimate
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About 50 million light years. |
| Also Known
As: |
NGC 4406 |
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Release Date
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October 1, 2003 |
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