Too Fast, Too Furious: A Galaxy's Fatal Plunge

These images offer a dramatic look at a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way being ripped apart as it races at 4.5 million miles per hour (or more than 7 million kilometres per hour) through the heart of a distant cluster of galaxies. The images, taken over several wavelengths, provide evidence of the "galactic assault and battery," namely, gas being stripped from the doomed galaxy, called C153.

The composite photograph at left was made by combining the four images at right, taken in X-ray, radio, and visible wavelengths as well as the green light of oxygen gas. Astronomers studied the galaxy across several wavelengths to trace how stars, gas, and dust are being tossed around and torn from the fragile galaxy.