Tidal stripping occurs when a larger
galaxy
A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...
pulls
star
A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...
s and other stellar material from a smaller galaxy because of strong
tidal force
The tidal force or tide-generating force is the difference in gravitational attraction between different points in a gravitational field, causing bodies to be pulled unevenly and as a result are being stretched towards the attraction. It is the ...
s.
An example of this scenario is the interacting pair of galaxies
NGC 2207 and IC 2163
__NOTOC__
NGC 2207 and IC 2163 are a pair of colliding spiral galaxies about 80 million light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. NGC 2207 was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel on 24 January 1835, while IC 2163 was discover ...
, which are currently in the process of tidal stripping.
See also
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Galactic tide
A galactic tide is a tidal force experienced by objects subject to the gravitational field of a galaxy such as the Milky Way. Particular areas of interest concerning galactic tides include galactic collisions, the disruption of dwarf or satellit ...
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Interacting galaxy
Interacting galaxies (''colliding galaxies'') are galaxy, galaxies whose gravity, gravitational fields result in a disturbance of one another. Major mergers occur between galaxies with similar amounts of mass, whereas minor mergers involve galax ...
*
Galactic ram pressure stripping
References
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Tidal forces