This composite image of the Southern Pinwheel galaxy is almost too perfect. It looks like the cover from a gaudy sci-fi novel rather than combined ultra violet data from some very expensive pieces of kit.
The main spiral is the pink and blue section. In the outer arms (the red bits) stars are forming. This region is along way from the centre of the galaxy and rather empty. Until the initial discovery of stars in these regions in 2005 it was thought not enough material existed there to create stars. These stars may help us understand star formation in the early universe, when there were fewer heavier elements and less dust.
“Even with today’s most powerful telescopes, it is extremely difficult to study the first generation of star formation. These new observations provide a unique opportunity to study how early generation stars might have formed,” says Mark Seibert of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Pasadena.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/VLA/MPIA