Hubble Spies One-Sided Spiral

NASA News reports that Hubble has captured striking images of NGC 4654, a spiral galaxy seventy-two million light-years away that's been warped by cosmic forces. The galaxy appears dramatically asymmetric: one side shows a rounded edge while the other trails a long plume of gas—the result of plowing through the hot gas between galaxies in its cluster. Astronomers believe NGC 4654 also experienced a close encounter with a neighboring galaxy roughly five hundred million years ago, which stripped gas from one side and suppressed star formation there. Despite this gravitational disruption, the galaxy continues to form about two solar masses' worth of new stars per year, visible in Hubble's latest data as bright pink regions marking where newborn stars ignite.

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