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Too Fast, Too Furious: A Galaxy's Fatal Plunge

08/20/2004 07:00AM

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.


Comments:

  • schnitz [Russ Schnitzer]
  • 08/20/2004 09:45PM
Plunging at 4.5 million mi/hr! Almost makes you think we should track it's progress. That is, until we consider the distance scale. A simple calculation, based on the data presented in the article, is that it will take "only" 150 million years for the collision (plunge) to take place. <br><br>Considering the collision is 3 billion light years distant, it is sobering to realize the actual collision already happened approximately 2.85 billion years ago. <br><br>Russ Schnitzer
  • slakjaw [Kyle Whitney]
  • 08/24/2004 02:37AM
yes that is sobering thanks for the #`s