Spiral starburst galaxy glows in gorgeous Hubble Telescope image

A recent image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures a gorgeous galaxy bursting with new star formation.

This intermediate spiral galaxy is located about 50 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. Known as NGC 4536, the galaxy boasts sweeping spiral arms speckled with bright blue clusters of baby stars and vibrant pink clumps of ionized hydrogen gas. It is classified as an intermediate galaxy because it has a prominent central structure but falls between a barred spiral galaxy and an unbarred spiral galaxy.

NGC 4536 is also considered a starburst galaxy, as it is undergoing an exceptionally high rate of star formation compared to the average rate observed in most other galaxies. The ionized hydrogen gas seen among dark lanes of dust fuel the rapid birth of new stars, according to a statement from NASA that accompanied the release of the Hubble image.

"Starburst galaxies can happen due to gravitational interactions with other galaxies or ― as seems to be the case for NGC 4536 ― when gas is packed into a small region," NASA officials said in the statement.

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The bar-like structure of NGC 4536 may funnel gas inward towards the center, creating a dense region where star formation is highly active. This can be seen in the new Hubble image, which captures a bright ring around the galaxy’s nucleus.

Another possible explanation for the rapid star birth is its proximity to other galaxies. NGC 4536 belongs to the M61 Group of galaxies, which is part of the Virgo Cluster — an assembly of galaxies at the center of the Virgo Supercluster. The gravitational tug of neighboring galaxies compresses gas within a galaxy, triggering star formation.

"Starburst galaxies birth lots of hot blue stars that burn fast and die quickly in explosions that unleash intense ultraviolet light," NASA officials said in the statement.

The ultraviolet light (visible in blue in the Hubble image) from these stellar explosions, also known as supernovae, heat the surrounding gas and create ionized clouds of glowing hydrogen. These areas, called HII regions, are depicted in red in the image.

This recent Hubble image, which NASA released on March 8, was taken as part of a larger initiative to study galactic environments in the local universe and the connection between young stars and cold gas. The study is targeting galaxies like NGC 4536, which have star clusters and molecular clouds.