Wind distorts the shape of two hypervelocity galaxies

In article ,
(Steve Willner) wrote:

In article ,
Yousuf Khan writes:
The two galaxies are each travelling at nearly 10 million kph, or almost
1% the speed of light!

I was surprised by that velocity, too, but it doesn't look right.
NED lists the radial velocity of NGC 4522 as 2307 km/s, and the Virgo
cluster velocity is about 1080 km/s. Thus relative to the cluster
gas, the velocity is "only" about 1230 km/s. That's still very high,
of course, and the pictures are spectacular. There are better
versions and a more coherent article at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMFOLKIWZF_index_0.html

1230 km/s ~= 4.4 million kph, and that's only the difference in radial
velocity. To net 10 million kph the tangential velocity would have to be
larger -- but not outrageously so, less than an order of magnitude.

--
Odysseus