Letter to the Editor

Herschel-SPIRE observations of the disturbed galaxy NGC 4438^*

¹ School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queens Buildings The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK e-mail: luca.cortese@astro.cf.ac.uk
² Astrophysics Group, Imperial College, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
³ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, UMR6110 CNRS, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, 13388 Marseille France
⁴ Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, 9000 Gent, Belgium
⁵ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91109, United States; Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁶ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, vía Láctea S/N, 38200 La Laguna, Spain
⁷ CEA, Laboratoire AIM, Irfu/SAp, Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁸ Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, UMR7095 CNRS, Université Pierre & Marie Curie, 98 bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
⁹ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
¹⁰ Observational Cosmology Lab, Code 665, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA e-mail: Eli.Dwek@nasa.gov
¹¹ Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, CASA CB-389, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
¹² Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, UK
¹³ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
¹⁴ Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada
¹⁵ School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
¹⁶ Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF, via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Roma, Italy
¹⁷ Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Mail Code 100-22, 770 South Wilson Av, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
¹⁸ Centre for Astrophysics Research, Science and Technology Research Centre, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Herts AL10 9AB, UK
¹⁹ University of Padova, Department of Astronomy, Vicolo Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova, Italy
²⁰ Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550 Université de Strasbourg - CNRS, 11, rue de l'Université, 67000 Strasbourg
²¹ UK Astronomy Technology Center, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
²² Institut für Astronomie, Universität Wien, Türkenschanzstr. 17, 1180 Wien, Austria

Received: 30 March 2010
Accepted: 15 April 2010

Abstract

We present Herschel-SPIRE observations of the perturbed galaxy NGC 4438 in the Virgo cluster. These images reveal the presence of extra-planar dust up to ~4–5 kpc away from the galaxy's disk. The dust closely follows the distribution of the stripped atomic and molecular hydrogen, supporting the idea that gas and dust are perturbed in a similar fashion by the cluster environment. Interestingly, the extra-planar dust lacks a warm temperature component when compared to the material still present in the disk, explaining why it was missed by previous far-infrared investigations. Our study provides evidence for dust stripping in clusters of galaxies and illustrates the potential of Herschel data for our understanding of environmental effects on galaxy evolution.