New Delhi: Astronomers have uncovered a bridge of hydrogen gas spanning 185,000 lightyears between a pair of galaxies designated as NGC 4532 and DDO 137, located at a distance of about 53 million lightyears from the Earth. The gas bridge is accompanied by a tail of gas extending for 1.6 million lightyears, which is the longest such feature ever discovered. The dynamics of the gas between the galaxy was influenced by the gravitational interactions between the two galaxies, as well as their proximity to the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The galaxies orbited each other while moving through the fringes of the Virgo cluster.
The gas surrounding the Virgo cluster is superheated, about 200 times hotter than the surface of the Sun. This interaction stripped the gas and dust from the two dwarf galax