Hubble's Captivating Glimpse into the Vibrant Virgo Cluster

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of NGC 4654, an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo. The galaxy exhibits characteristics of both unbarred and barred spirals and is located about 55 million light-years from Earth. NGC 4654 is experiencing ram pressure stripping, a process where the gravitational pull of the Virgo galaxy cluster strips the galaxy of its gas, resulting in a long, thin tail of hydrogen gas. Despite this, NGC 4654 continues to have star formation rates consistent with other galaxies of its size. The galaxy also had an interaction with a companion galaxy, NGC 4639, which limited star formation in certain regions. Scientists study NGC 4654 to understand the connection between young stars and the cold gas from which they form.