Runaway Galaxy

Wallpaper Description:

The Spiral galaxy ESO 137-001 looks like a dandelion caught in a breeze in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxy is zooming toward the upper right of this image, I between other galaxies in the Norma cluster located over 200 million light-years away. The road is harsh: intergalactic gas in the Norma cluster is sparse, but so hot at 180 million degrees Fahrenheit that it glows in X-rays. The spiral plows through the seething intra-cluster gas so rapidly--at nearly .5 million miles per hour--much of its own gas is caught and torn away. Astronomers call this "ram pressure stripping." The galaxy's stars remain intact due to the binding force of their gravity.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA);
Acknowledgement: M. Sun (University of Alabama, Huntsville)