NASA's Hubble Finds Life is Too Fast, Too Furious for This Runaway Galaxy

The spiral galaxy ESO 137-001 looks like a dandelion caught in a breeze in this new Hubble Space Telescope image.
The galaxy is zooming toward the upper right of this image, in 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 4.5 million miles per hour — that 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.
Tattered threads of gas, the blue jellyfish-tendrils trailing ESO 137-001 in the image, illustrate the process. Ram pressure has strung this gas away from its home in the spiral galaxy and out over intergalactic space. Once there, these strips of gas have erupted with young, massive stars, which are pumping out light in vivid blues and ultraviolet.

[helenedelattre]

So beautiful. It's amazes me how powerful Hubble really is.

[josephbcls]

I'm speechless. Can't stop watching this. So amazing what's out there. Great job Hubble!

[llantup]

Love the videos, but I do wish someone would narrate them!

[xXPersianxAlienXx]

So much horror before all their life ended.

[PauloSMachado]

Suggested name for The spiral galaxy ESO 137-001: Physalia physalis ;)