Hubble captures a jellyfish galaxy 700 million light-years away

NASA shared an image of a "jellyfish galaxy" moving thorugh a galactic cluster as the intra-cluster medium stripped its gas away, forming tendrils.

Jellyfish galaxies, like the one in this image, resemble their marine namesakes due to their "tentacles." (ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team)

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NASA released this Hubble image on Friday, showcasing the jellyfish galaxy JO206 as it trails across the universe about 700 million light-years away from our planet in the constellation Aquarius.

Prominent in the image is the colourful star-forming disk of the jellyfish galaxy surrounded by luminous clouds of dust. The rest of the image stands mostly sparse apart from bright stars in the foreground with crisscross diffraction spikes that stand out against the inky blackness of space.

Jellyfish galaxies resemble their marine namesakes and that is evident in the image. At the bottom right, you can see long “tentacles” of bright star formation that trails the main disc of the galaxy, just like a jellyfish’s tentacles would follow it.

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The space in between galaxies in galaxy clusters is filled by something called “intra-cluster medium,” which is a very weak superheated plasma. When galaxies move through the galaxy clusters, they force themselves through this medium. The intracluster medium then strips the gas from the galaxies, which is what forms the long tendrils or tentacles.

The tendrils of the jellyfish are important because they allow astronomers to study star formation in extreme conditions, far away from the influence of the galaxy’s main disk. Last month, the space agency shared an image of JW39, another jellyfish galaxy, also captured by Hubble.