A monstrous X-ray tail has grown up in the galaxy.

A monstrous X-ray tail has grown up in the galaxy.

In a cluster of galaxies located far away, astronomers saw a galaxy, in which an unprecedented tail of overheated gases had grown, providing scientists with a unique view of the intergalactic environment.

Using NASA's Chandra space telescope, which scans the sky in an X-ray spectrum, helped astronomers see a long tail 250,000 light-years long, stretching from the CGCG254-021 galaxy hidden deep inside the Zwicky cluster 8338, which is 700 million light-years from Earth. This tail, consisting of overheated interstellar gases, was cut off from the galaxy by a hot intergalactic gas located inside the cluster.

The gas temperature in the tail reaches 10,000,000 degrees Kelvin (Celsius), while the intergalactic gas Zwicky 8338 is 3 times hotter.

Of greatest interest is the gap between the tail and the galaxy, which probably indicates that all the interstellar gases inside the galaxy were blown away by the wind. “The big gap between the galaxy and the tail can tell us that the gas inside the galaxy can be completely depleted,” said Thomas Reiphirch of Bonn University in Germany. "In essence, the tail was cut off from the galaxy."

Astronomers suggest that the loss of a galaxy is somehow related to the effects of a cluster of galaxies. This tail of gas, which is already twice as long as our own galaxy, can itself become a source of star formation. Infrared studies CGCG254-021 showed that very few star formation processes take place inside the galaxy, caused by the loss of gas from which the tail was formed.

In addition, other characteristics of tail gases were studied, in particular, a large concentration of heavy elements (heavier than helium) was found in the “head” of the tail. There is also evidence of a bow shock wave, which pulls the tail. The shock wave was generated by supersonic motion from the intergalactic medium of the cluster.

“This tail is a prime example of how a dynamic cluster of galaxies can transform galaxies located in it,” said Gerrit Schellenberger of the University of Bonn in Germany, who led the study, published in the November issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. "In addition, the material in the tail includes not only hydrogen, but also heavy elements that can be the raw material for the emergence of new generations of stars." Clusters of galaxies are of great interest, as they are very massive. Containing from hundreds to thousands of individual galaxies, these huge structures represent islands of gravitational dominance in space-time and are a repository of dark matter - an invisible substance that holds about 85 percent of the total mass in the Universe. Looking into the depths of these clusters, we can better understand how individual galaxies develop.

"The clusters of galaxies are so huge that they play an important role in understanding how our Universe is evolving," Schellenberger added.

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