[4] NGC 4522 is losing its molecular gas though ram-pressure stripping as it plows though the cluster at a speed of more than 10 million kilometres per hour.

[6] The selectively disturbed interstellar medium (ISM) of NGC 4522, together with a normal-appearing stellar disk, strongly suggest that the galaxy is undergoing ram-pressure stripping caused by an interaction between the intracluster medium (ICM) of the surrounding Virgo Cluster with the ISM of the galaxy itself.

[7] However at NGC 4522's projected distance from Messier 87 (~1 Mpc), and assumption of a static smooth ICM and other "standard values", the force of the ram-pressure stripping exerted at the galaxy's location appears to be an order of magnitude less than needed to cause the observed truncation of the galaxy's gas disk.

The southwest region features a number of decoupled extraplanar dust clouds and an arm structure containing a number of HII regions and groupings of bright young blue stars.

These stars may enter the halo of NGC 4522 or escape into intergalactic space.