30 September 2009 Speed comes at a price for the spiral galaxy NGC 4522, which is being stripped of gas as it tears through space at more than 10 million kilometres per hour. The galaxy is a member of the Virgo cluster, a clutch of about 2000 galaxies that sits some 60 million light years away. Hot gas lurks between the galaxies in this cluster, creating drag that tears away NGC 4522’s gas, which glows a ghostly white in this Hubble Space Telescope image. The bright blue speckles are areas where new stars are forming as a result of this process.