(click on image to enlarge)
From NASA/ ESA, July 1, 2019: This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week shows bright, colourful pockets of star formation blooming like roses in a spiral galaxy named NGC 972.
The orange-pink glow is created as hydrogen gas reacts to
the intense light streaming outwards from nearby newborn stars; these
bright patches can be seen here amid dark, tangled streams of cosmic dust.
Astronomers look for these telltale signs of star formation
when they study galaxies throughout the cosmos, as star formation
rates, locations, and histories offer critical clues as to how these
colossal collections of gas and dust have evolved over time. New
generations of stars contribute to — and are also, in turn, influenced
by — the broader forces and factors that mould galaxies throughout the
Universe, such as gravity, radiation, matter, and dark matter.
German-British astronomer William Herschel is credited with
the discovery of NGC 972 in 1784. Astronomers have since measured its
distance, finding it to be just under 70 million light-years.
Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, L. Ho
