Hubble telescope captures starburst

ESA has published stunning imagery of a star formation nearly 12.5 million light years away. Scientists were able to capture the stellar fireworks through the Hubble space telescope in the dwarf galaxy NGC 4449, which has been forming stars for thousands of millions of years.

According to ESA, the current unusual explosive and intense activity "qualifies as a starburst," meaning that at the current rate, the gas that feeds stellar production would run out in about 1 billion years.

The high-resolution image and flash animation published on ESA’s website shows "hundreds of thousands of vibrant blue and red stars" that mix with "bluish white clusters of massive stars that are scattered throughout the galaxy." Also visible are "dusty" regions where star formation is taking place.

The 36.1 MB high-resolution image is available for download from ESA’s website.