  We present optical, HI and radio continuum observations of the highly
inclined Virgo Cluster Sc galaxy NGC 4402, which show evidence for ram-pressure
stripping and dense cloud ablation. VLA HI and radio continuum maps show a
truncated gas disk and emission to the northwest of the main disk emission. In
particular, the radio continuum emission is asymmetrically extended to the
north and skewed to the west. The Halpha image shows numerous HII complexes
along the southern edge of the gas disk, possibly indicating star formation
triggered by the ICM pressure. BVR images at 0.5" resolution obtained with the
WIYN Tip-Tilt Imager show a remarkable dust lane morphology: at half the
optical radius, the dust lane of the galaxy curves up and out of the disk,
matching the HI morphology. Large dust plumes extend upward for ~1.5 kpc from
luminous young star clusters at the SE edge of the truncated gas disk. These
star clusters are very blue, indicating very little dust reddening, which
suggests dust blown away by an ICM wind at the leading edge of the interaction.
To the south of the main ridge of interstellar material, where the galaxy is
relatively clean of gas and dust, we have discovered 1 kpc long linear dust
filaments with a position angle that matches the extraplanar radio continuum
tail; we interpret this angle as the projected ICM wind direction. One of the
observed dust filaments has an HII region at its head. We interpret these dust
filaments as large, dense clouds which were initially left behind as the
low-density ISM is stripped, but are then ablated by the ICM wind. These
results provide striking new evidence on the fate of molecular clouds in
stripped cluster galaxies.
