APOD: Stripping ESO 137 001 (2014 Mar 28)

[APOD Robot]

Stripping ESO 137 001

Explanation: Spiral galaxy ESO 137-001 hurtles through massive galaxy cluster Abell 3627 some 220 million light years away. The distant galaxy is seen in this colorful Hubble/Chandra composite image through a foreground of the Milky Way's stars toward the southern constellation Triangulum Australe. As the spiral speeds along at nearly 7 million kilometers per hour, its gas and dust is stripped away when ram pressure with the cluster's own hot, tenuous intracluster medium overcomes the galaxy's gravity. Evident in Hubble's near visible light data, bright star clusters have formed in the stripped material along the short, trailing blue streaks. Chandra's X-ray data shows off the enormous extent of the heated, stripped gas as diffuse, darker blue trails stretching over 400,000 light-years toward the bottom right. The significant loss of dust and gas will make new star formation difficult for this galaxy. A yellowish elliptical galaxy, lacking in star forming dust and gas, is just to the right of ESO 137-001 in the frame.

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[Spif]

Wow, so much material is being stripped out of the galaxy that stars are forming outside of it?

Amazing.

I wouldn't think that the medium between galaxies would be so dense that such a thing could happen.

-s

[Michael in Istanbul]

Wow, what a great picture. A shooting galaxy instead of a shooting star - it may be skipping along the cosmic atmosphere, which I hear protects our universe from rogue galaxies in hyperspace.

[CuDubh]

AKA Messier's Nightmare.

[Ann]

This galaxy is slightly, slightly reminiscent of pulsating AGB giant star Mira, which speeds through space at about 130 kilometers per second (291,000 miles per hour) and leaves a 13 light-year-long tail behind, which glows in UV light.

Of course, ESO 137 001 is Mira to the power of about ten or so, which is a lot. (And if it is even more than that, I'd appreciate your corrections.)

Today's APOD is indeed amazing!!!

Ann

[Guest]

I wouldn't think that the medium between galaxies would be so dense that such a thing could happen.

Could it be, that the dark matter is only this unsuspected intergalactic material?

[Guest]

I wouldn't think that the medium between galaxies would be so dense that such a thing could happen.

And does this mean that the intergalactical medium isn't expanding as the rest of the universe?

[Boomer12k]

Very interesting object.
Not only is it "HAULING"....it is "PEELING OUT" as it goes.....

7mil...KPH....is 4,349,598.345 7 miles/hour
I read where the M.W. is only about 1/4 of that...


The Speed of light in MPH....is....669,600,000 miles per hour.

Still for a galaxy to do that....and then have pressure making a trail of "debris", is quite fascinating. And having enough material to form stars????? Curiouser, and Curiouser.....

:---[===] *

[MargaritaMc]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Hubblecast 72: Clues to a cosmic crime
HubbleESA

Uploaded on 4 Mar 2014
The newest episode of the Hubblecast showcases striking new observations of a spiral galaxy moving through the heart of a galaxy cluster named Abell 3627. This cluster is violently ripping the spiral's entrails out into space, leaving bright blue streaks as telltale clues to this cosmic crime.

Also http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=33036

[Isaak Blechman]

Dear editors,
1. what is the real speed of the Galaxy through the cluster, may by 50 km/sec
which is nothing? and it does'nt produce high pressure.
7000 km/sec is Hubble speed !
2. There are dark brown streams on the one side of the
spirals similar to AGB pattern !
3 Are the researchers estimated the stretched mass?
the galaxy is not to much destroyed? spreading material very long time?

Finally, it is beautiful surprise and a crux.

[12zsawer]

Yes! This is a wonderful image! Would not some of the star clusters being born in the trail of material be likely to one day form many smaller "galaxites", left to themselves to wander the cluster? Or will they remain part of the larger galaxy? Very cool regardless.

[APODFORIST]

That's really an awesome picture!

How long the Galaxy needed for drifting the distance shown on the picture?

[CURRAHEE CHRIS]

Beautiful picture- was the brightness of the stars enhanced do you think??

The thing that amazes me as a new person in this hobby is the numbers involved- I cant even wrap my mind around something that huge going that fast. Really awe inspiring.

[henrystar]

I wouldn't think that the medium between galaxies would be so dense that such a thing could happen.

Could it be, that the dark matter is only this unsuspected intergalactic material?

Nope. This intergalactic material is not unsuspected, it was detected in rich clusters of galaxies decades ago, by its X-ray emission. And the dark matter is a LOT more than this stuff, as well.

[APODFORIST]

That's really an awesome picture!

How long the Galaxy needed for drifting the distance shown on the picture?

I was calculating in the meantime: 62 Million years.

(400.000 * 9460730472580km / 7000000 km/h)

Is it correct?

[Chris Peterson]

Could it be, that the dark matter is only this unsuspected intergalactic material?

The material that is seen in this image, and that is being stimulated by collisions, is ordinary matter.

[Chris Peterson]

And does this mean that the intergalactical medium isn't expanding as the rest of the universe?

The Universe isn't expanding withing regions that are gravitationally bound. That includes galaxies in clusters, as well as the tenuous medium between them.

[Chris Peterson]

1. what is the real speed of the Galaxy through the cluster, may by 50 km/sec which is nothing? and it does'nt produce high pressure. 7000 km/sec is Hubble speed !

The speed is given, 7 million km/h, probably better stated as 2000 km/s. That's 0.006 C - fast, but not relativistic, and corresponds to about the same Z (0.006). Nowhere near the apparent recession velocity of objects at cosmological distances. Indeed, the redshift of the entire group is Z = 0.015, meaning the entire region is receding at more than twice the relative motion between these bodies.

That 2000 km/s relative motion between gas clouds is certainly enough to reduce the collision interval between particles at mean free distances of tens of kilometers sufficiently to create shock fronts.

[Guest]

OK... so what accelerated an entire galaxy to that velocity relative to the rest of the universe? And without destroying it? And how long ago did that happen given its relative velocity and the amount of matter being stripped away at the (apparent) current rate? Is there some supremely massive object or equally fast moving object (galaxy?) now heading in an opposite direction (relative to the universe) to counter this apparent imparted energy? Again, how do you accelerate an entire galaxy without destroying it?

[Chris Peterson]

OK... so what accelerated an entire galaxy to that velocity relative to the rest of the universe? And without destroying it? And how long ago did that happen given its relative velocity and the amount of matter being stripped away at the (apparent) current rate? Is there some supremely massive object or equally fast moving object (galaxy?) now heading in an opposite direction (relative to the universe) to counter this apparent imparted energy? Again, how do you accelerate an entire galaxy without destroying it? :?: :?: :?:

It's only a moderately high velocity with respect to its local surroundings (not the rest of the Universe). It probably formed from material traveling that velocity- either due to primordial interactions, or primordial statistical variation. I don't think it's out of the question that it might have been ejected from a cluster due to gravitational perturbations, either.

[Guest]

OK... so what accelerated an entire galaxy to that velocity relative to the rest of the universe? And without destroying it? And how long ago did that happen given its relative velocity and the amount of matter being stripped away at the (apparent) current rate? Is there some supremely massive object or equally fast moving object (galaxy?) now heading in an opposite direction (relative to the universe) to counter this apparent imparted energy? Again, how do you accelerate an entire galaxy without destroying it?

It's only a moderately high velocity with respect to its local surroundings (not the rest of the Universe). It probably formed from material traveling that velocity- either due to primordial interactions, or primordial statistical variation. I don't think it's out of the question that it might have been ejected from a cluster due to gravitational perturbations, either.

If the building blocks of that galaxy were ejected material from some other 'structure', then the other 'structure' must be imparted with opposite velocity vector components (subject to mass). Then that galaxy forms from this ejected matter while traveling at a velocity sufficient to rip the dust/gas/building-blocks from the (eventually) formed galaxy. How does a galaxy form with that kind of stresses imparted on the base materials? Forming some kind of galactic sized 'matter-bubble' surrounded by some kind of shock wave (bow-shock?), in which the galaxy can be created over billions(?) of years? Assuming the forces of gravitation and friction must have been working on the 'ejected material' for those billions of years, the initial velocity must have been very impressive. And (therefore) so to must the forces capable of creating galaxies from raw materials...

Knowing the direction this galaxy is headed, and its current velocity, we should be able to locate and identify the object(s) responsible for the original acceleration... That would be impressive...

[Chris Peterson]

If the building blocks of that galaxy were ejected material from some other 'structure', then the other 'structure' must be imparted with opposite velocity vector components (subject to mass).

No, it is momentum that is conserved, not velocity. And if the galaxy was ejected from another cluster, it was by a conversion of orbital angular momentum to linear momentum. No reason we should expect to detect the parent region.

[neufer]

That 2000 km/s relative motion between gas clouds is certainly enough to reduce the collision interval between particles at mean free distances of tens of kilometers sufficiently to create shock fronts.

<<A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium (solid, liquid, gas or plasma). Shock waves are characterized by an abrupt, nearly discontinuous change in the characteristics of the medium. Across a shock there is always an extremely rapid rise in pressure, temperature and density of the flow. A shock wave travels through most media at a higher speed than an ordinary wave [and] is treated as a discontinuity where entropy increases over a nearly infinitesimal region.

Shock waves are common in astrophysical environments:

• The bow shock of a solar system (the existence of our solar system's bow shock has been disputed recently).
  Supernova remnants driving a shock through the interstellar medium (ISM).
  Shocks traveling through a massive star as it explodes in a core collapse supernova.
  Shocks in interstellar gas, caused by a collision between molecular clouds or by a gravitational collapse of a cloud.
  Accretion shocks at the edge of galaxy clusters.

Because of the low ambient density, most astronomical shocks are collisionless. This means that the shocks are not formed by two-body Coulomb collisions, since the mean free path for these collisions is too large, often exceeding the size of the system. It is widely accepted that the mechanism driving these shocks consists of plasma instabilities, that operate on the scale of plasma skin depth(; i.e., ,) which is typically much shorter than the mean free path(; i.e., ).

It is known that collisionless shocks are associated with extremely high energy particles, although it has not been definitively established if the high energy photons observed are emitted by protons, electrons or both. The energetic particles are in general believed to be accelerated by the Fermi acceleration mechanism. It is usually agreed that shocks caused by supernova remnants expanding in the interstellar medium accelerate the cosmic rays measured above the Earth's atmosphere.

Shock waves in stellar environments, such as shocks inside a core collapse supernova explosion often become radiation mediated shocks. Such shocks are formed by photons colliding with the electrons of the matter, and the downstream of these shocks is dominated by radiation energy density rather than thermal energy of matter.

An important type of astrophysical shock is the relativistic shock, in which the shock velocity is a non-negligible fraction of the speed of light. These shocks are unique to astrophysical environments, and can be either collisionless or radiation mediated. Relativistic shocks are theoretically expected in gamma ray bursts, active galactic nucleus jets and in some types of supernova explosions.>>

[Guest]

If the building blocks of that galaxy were ejected material from some other 'structure', then the other 'structure' must be imparted with opposite velocity vector components (subject to mass).

No, it is momentum that is conserved, not velocity. And if the galaxy was ejected from another cluster, it was by a conversion of orbital angular momentum to linear momentum. No reason we should expect to detect the parent region.

Maybe you missed the point... With all due respect to the conservation of momentum and various forms of mechanics ( linear & angular/rotational, & perhaps fluid as viewed on a macro scale) and with apologies to Newton et al; some parent body blasted out an entire galaxy, more in the manner of a shotgun blast rather than in the manner of a fire hose. Whether the original momentum in the matter in the system was linear, angular or (relatively speaking) 'static'... (tho I can't see that), or whatever it was doing before that, enough energy has been added to the entire mass of that entire galaxy as a unit-whole to shoot it out into intergalactic space. And following that interaction, it was still able to form a respectable looking galaxy even while being stripped of its component parts by the forces of friction and gravitation with other galactic and intergalactic materials. And still leave a detectable trail while this was going on.

[kindness]

When I first saw this pic it made me think this galaxy had a close fly by with a very large gravitational body of some sorts. Wandering black hole perhaps? Scary idea but less realistic than the explanation given.