Astronomers examining the nearby Universe with the help of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have just completed the largest high-resolution survey of star-forming fuel ever conducted in galaxy clusters. They’re tackling a long-standing mystery in astrophysics: what’s killing galaxies?
The Virgo Environment Traced in Carbon Monoxide Survey—VERTICO—set out to better understand star formation and the role of galaxies in the Universe and VERTICO project observed the gas reservoirs of 51 galaxies in the Virgo Cluster in high-resolution, revealing an environment so extreme and inhospitable that it can stop entire galaxies from forming stars in a process known as galaxy quenching.
Read the full ALMA press release from November 2, 2021 here.
Image: Spiral galaxy NGC 4254 is among the thousands of galaxies living and dying by the extreme physical processes in the Virgo Cluster. The galaxy is seen here in radio from ALMA with molecular gas in red/orange and optical from Hubble Space Telescope with stars in white/blue. © ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Dagnello (NRAO)