The Cosmos with NGC 7090

A gorgeous new photo by the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that a faraway spiral galaxy is indeed churning out new stars at a rapid rate.

The new Hubble image captures a galaxy called NGC 7090, which is found about 30 million light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Indus (The Indian). The edge-on shot shows the galaxy’s disc and bulging central core — which is likely full of cool, relatively old stars — as well as a number of pinkish regions scattered throughout NGC 7090.

These pink areas reveal the presence of huge clouds of hydrogen gas, researchers said. Such clouds are the raw materials of which stars are made, providing striking visual confirmation of several recent studies that have classified NGC 7090 as a star-forming galaxy.

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