The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking new photo of a jellyfish spiral galaxy called JW39.
Understanding the physical conditions that lead to the formation of new stars, and conversely to the halting of the star formation activity, is central for astrophysics.
Galaxy disks are the usual cradle for star formation. This is a hierarchical process traced by star-forming regions, dubbed clumps, which are ubiquitous in star-forming galaxies.
Distant galaxies are dominated by bright clumps, which are larger and more massive than in the local Universe.
The star formation activity is strongly influenced and can be even halted by a number of processes, some of which are directly related to the environment in which the galaxy resides.
Ram pressure stripping, i.e. the removal of interstellar gas from the disk of star forming galaxies due to the hydrodynamical interaction with the hot intergalactic medium, is one such process and it is believed to have a strong impact on galaxy populations in dense environments such as galaxy groups and, especially, clusters.
“Despite this jellyfish galaxy’s serene appearance, it is adrift in a ferociously hostile environment — a galaxy cluster,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“Compared to their more isolated counterparts, the galaxies in galaxy clusters are often distorted by the gravitational pull of larger neighbors, which can twist galaxies into a variety of weird and wonderful shapes.”
“If that was not enough, the space between galaxies in a cluster is also pervaded with a searingly hot plasma known as the intracluster medium.”
“While this plasma is extremely tenuous, galaxies moving through it experience it almost like swimmers fighting against a current, and this interaction can strip galaxies of their star-forming gas.”
“This interaction between the intracluster medium and the galaxies is called ram-pressure stripping, and is the process responsible for the trailing tendrils of…
Read the full article here