IC 3476 Halpha image

The spectral energy distribution fitting analysis of the multi-frequency data indicates that this quenching episode is very recent (~50Myr), and roughly corresponds to an increase of the star formation activity by a factor of ~161% in the inner regions with respect to that expected for secular evolution. The analysis of these data, whose angular resolution enables the study of the induced effects of the perturbation down to the scale of individual HII regions (r_eq_~=40pc), also suggests that the increase of star formation activity is due to the compression of the gas along the stellar disc of the galaxy, which is able to increase its mean electron density and boost the star formation process producing bright HII regions with luminosities up to L(H{alpha})~=10^38^erg/s.

The combined analysis of the VESTIGE data with deep IFU spectroscopy gathered with MUSE and with high spectral resolution Fabry Perot data also indicates that the hydrodynamic interaction has deeply perturbed the velocity field of the ionised gas component while leaving that of the stellar disc unaffected. The comparison of the data with tuned high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations accounting for the different gas phases (atomic, molecular, ionised) consistently indicates that the perturbing event is very recent (50-150Myr), once again confirming that ram pressure stripping is a violent phenomenon that is able to perturb the evolution of galaxies in rich environments on short timescales.