Caught in the Act: Witnessing a Transforming Spiral in a Galaxy Group

Ram pressure stripping of galaxies is believed to be inefficient in galaxy groups, but Chandra X-ray observations of the starburst spiral NGC 2276, a member of a small galaxy group, shows that this galaxy is being stripped of its gas at a rate of ~5 M_⊙ yr⁻¹ due to its motion through hot intragroup gas. This provides direct evidence that mechanisms associated with ram pressure can strip galaxies of their gas in systems much smaller than galaxy clusters.