A Galactic Tale about a Galactic Tail

Galaxy NGC 4569 is a spiral galaxy that is part of the Virgo cluster, around 55 Million light years distant.  Like any other spiral galaxy, we can learn about its motion through the cluster, the properties of its stellar population, and how quickly its converting gas and dust to stars.  But this galaxy has an interesting property, it’s missing a lot of gas.  For years, astronomers have had ideas about where the gas has gone, and with new data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), they now have the answer. The gas is being stripped off of the galaxy, and is now...