Hubble telescope creates awe-inspiring map of star formation in nearby galaxies

A galaxy is an incredible thing.

The vast cosmic objects are born when huge clouds of dust and gas collapse under the weight of their own gravity. Hundreds of billions of stars flicker on, and eventually planets also condense from rings of dust surrounding many of those stars.

Now, a series of newly-processed photos from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a map of star formation in 50 galaxies located within 60 million light-years of Earth.

Scientists used the Hubble to photograph these galaxies in ultraviolet light, revealing bursts of star formation within them, producing a catalogue that reveals 39 million hot, blue stars and 8,000 star clusters, according to NASA. Read more…

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