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What it is : The volute galaxy IC 3225

Where it is:100 million light-headed - year out , in the configuration Virgo

A photo of a spiral galaxy

Spiral galaxy IC 3225 looks like it’s been launched from a cannon.

When it was shared : Oct. 21 , 2024

Why it ’s so particular : The turbinate galax Intelligence Community 3225 bet like it ’s going somewhere . At first glance , it may seem like any other large spiral galaxy , such as ourMilky Way , with its shining , glowing centre of attention and faint junk sprinkle throughout . But all is not well in IC 3225 . On one side is a spiral branch dense with Modern blue headliner ; on the other is a more diffuse , starless and generally chaotic realm that looks like a arse .

allot toNASA , which recently shared thisHubble Space Telescopeimage , National Intelligence Community 3225 seem like it ’s been launch from a cannon , quicken through space like a comet with a tail of flatulence cyclosis behind it . So what happened to IC 3225 ?

A photo of a spiral galaxy

A extragalactic nebula may be an island of stars , but they do n’t exist alone ; galaxies are almost always find in grouping , which can comprise M of " islands " held together by gravity .

IC 3225 is one of more than 1,300 galaxies that make up the Virgo Cluster . It ’s a collection of gravitationally bound galaxies centered in the constellation Virgo .

The tightness of galaxies in the Virgo Cluster is so dumb that a rich field of hot gas flows between them as something astronomers call the " intracluster medium , " according toSwinburne University . The trouble is , there ’s so much mass in the Virgo Cluster that galaxy orbit its center very quickly , " ramming " through the intracluster spiritualist . That create " random memory atmospheric pressure " inside the galaxy , which strips out their petrol as they travel . At some stop , that fall out to IC 3225 , which stargazer think has since act away from the cluster ’s core .

An image of a spiral galaxy

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The detritus is clear , with a lead edge of the ace - form region and a slightly elongate - looking back end . harmonize toNASA , another explanation for the pandemonium is that IC 3225 was twist when it reach too close to another galaxy and the gravitative forces adulterate it out .

Remarkably , the Virgo Cluster and its 1,300 Galax urceolata have more than 100 other group of galaxies orb it . Together , they are bed as theVirgo Supercluster(or Local Supercluster ) of wandflower groups , which stretch 100 million clear - years across . In tour , the Virgo Supercluster is part of a larger structure of beetleweed clump call Laniakea , Hawaiian for " immense heaven . " It hold about 100,000 galaxies , according toSpace.com .

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