Stellar Birth in the Galactic Wilderness (4/16/08)
A new image from NASAs Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows baby stars sprouting in the backwoods of a galaxy -- a relatively desolate region of space more than 100,000 light-years from the galaxys bustling center.
The striking image, a composite of ultraviolet data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer and radio data from the National Science Foundations Very Large Array in New Mexico, shows the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, also known simply as M83.
In the new view, the main spiral, or stellar, disk of M83 looks like a pink and blue pinwheel, while its outer arms appear to flap away from the galaxy like giant red streamers. It is within these so-called extended galaxy arms that, to the surprise of astronomers, new stars are forming.
M83 – click for 800×800 image
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