A galaxy spinning out of sync
Image: Though the spiral galaxy in this new image by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope seems serene, it hides a chaotic secret. This galaxy is NGC 4698, and it lies about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It’s one of over one thousand galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, the nearest large cluster of galaxies bound together by gravity. As a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky…
In the heart of the Virgo Cluster, a galaxy named NGC 4698 defies the typical order of things. This spiral galaxy, akin to our own Milky Way, boasts a mesmerizing disc filled with stars, gas, and dust. However, what sets NGC 4698 apart is its eccentric bulge, which extends at a right angle to the disc.
This peculiar arrangement, captured in a recent Hubble Space Telescope image, suggests that NGC 4698 might have drawn gas from an external source. If this were the case, the newly acquired gas could have formed a unique disc around the galaxy's centre, at an angle relative to the rest of the disc.
Moreover, the stars and gas swirling close to the galaxy's core rotate perpendicular to the rest of the disc, adding to the galaxy's enigmatic nature. Astronomers believe that a minor galactic merger, evidenced by a hydrogen tail streaming from the galaxy's side, might have caused this anomaly.
Written by urgent.news from ESA Space Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
