Starburst

This mosaic image is the sharpest wide-angle view ever obtained of the magnificent starburst galaxy M82. The galaxy is remarkable for its bright blue disk, webs of shredded clouds, and fiery-looking plumes of glowing hydrogen blasting out of its central regions. Throughout the galaxy’s center, young stars are being born ten times faster than they are inside our entire Milky Way galaxy. The young stars are crammed into tiny but massive star clusters, and these, in turn, congregate by the dozens to make the bright patches, or “starburst clumps,” in the central parts of M82. The fierce galactic superwind generated by the huge concentration of young stars compresses enough gas to make millions of more stars.

Image Credit: NASA