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C153:
Too Fast, Too Furious: A Galaxy's Fatal Plunge
These images offer a dramatic look at C153, a galaxy being ripped apart
as it races at 4.5 million miles per hour through a distant cluster of
galaxies. The infalling galaxy's gas is being stripped by the pressure
of 20-million-degree Celsius gas that permeates the cluster.
At left is a composite image made by combining the four images at
right, taken in X-ray, radio, and visible wavelengths as well as the
visible, green light emitted by oxygen ions. Long comet-like streamers
of gas can be seen flowing from the galaxy as it travels through the
cluster called Abell 2125. The images span about one million light
years.
The Chandra X-ray image shows a tail of hot gas extending from C153. The
temperature of the gas tail is about 10 million degrees Celsius, cooler
than the surrounding cluster gas. This temperature difference is further
evidence that gas is being stripped from the galaxy. The image taken in
visible light from glowing oxygen ions shows a similar tail forming as
gas with a temperature of about 10,000 degrees Celsius is pulled from
the galaxy.
Hubble's broad band visible-light image reveals intricate detail in
the distribution of stars and dust within C153. The galaxy exhibits
evidence of a large-scale disturbance that has left its star-forming
regions concentrated to one side of its disk and beyond. Dust features
are twisted into chaotic patterns, obscuring any spiral pattern the
galaxy once had.
Radio observations depict high-energy particles as they spiral through
the galaxy's magnetic field, with some escaping in a perpendicular
direction to the galaxy's disk. The high-energy particles probably came
from a supermassive black hole.
| Fast Facts for C153:
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Credit
|
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/UMass/D.
Wang et al.
Optical: NASA/STScI/U. Alabama/W. Keel
Radio: NSF/NRAO/F. Owen
Optical [OII]: NSF/NOAO/KPNO/M.Ledlow |
|
Scale
|
Each panel is 34 arcsec per
side |
|
Category
|
Normal
Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies
Groups & Clusters of Galaxies |
|
Coordinates
(J2000)
|
RA 15h 41m 09.76s | Dec +66º
15' 45.00" |
|
Constellation
|
Ursa Major/Draco |
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Observation
Date
|
August 24, 2001 |
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Observation
Time
|
22 hours |
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Obs.
ID
|
2207 |
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Color
Code
|
X-ray (purple), Optical (yellow),
Radio (red), Optical [OII] (green) |
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Instrument
|
ACIS
|
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Distance Estimate
|
3 billion light years (920
million parsecs) |
| Release
Date |
January 06, 2004 |
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