Starburst Galaxy NGC 1569

This galaxy, called NGC 1569, sparkles with the light from millions of newly formed young stars. NGC 1569 is pumping out stars at a rate that is 100 times faster than the rate observed in our Milky Way Galaxy and has been almost continuously for the past 100 million years. The core's centerpiece is a grouping of three giant star clusters, each containing more than a million stars. (Two of the clusters are so close they appear in this Hubble Space Telescope image as one grouping.) The clusters reside in a large, central cavity. The gas in the cavity has been blown out by the multitude of massive, young stars that already exploded as supernovas. These explosions also triggered a violent flow of gas and particles that is sculpting giant gaseous structures. The sculpted structure at lower right is about 3,700 light-years long. Huge bubbles of gas, such as the two at left, appear like floating islands. They are being illuminated by the radiation from the bright, young stars within them. For more information, visit: hubblesite.org/image/2424/news_release/2008-38