Messier 90 (M90) and Ram-Pressure Stripping

Messier 90 (M90) is a spiral galaxy in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster approximately 59 million light years away. You can see a great deal of red, ionized hydrogen gas streaming from the galaxy. This material more than 300,000 light years long and is the result of a phenomenon called ram-pressure stripping.

Galaxy clusters often contain hot, X-ray emitting gas called intra-cluster medium. As M90 speeds through this gas in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, that gas peels away the lightweight hydrogen from the the galaxy much the same way a strong wind might blow dust off the hood of your car. This interaction causes some of that hydrogen to ionize, which makes it visible to us when we employ a special hydrogen filter and a good bit of patience and perseverance.

Ram-pressure stripping can be deadly to new star formation in a galaxy because it robs it of material from which it can create stars. But ironically, new star formation can actually be triggered by ram pressure in these gaseous tails, although I have not been able to ascertain whether that is occurring in M90’s tail.