This new image from the Hubble Space Telescope, released today, reveals vigorous
stell birth and death in a nearby dwarf galaxy called NGC 1569. The activity
blows huge bubbles and super-bubbles that riddle the main body of the galaxy.
The bubbles are made of hydrogen gas that glows when struck by strong particle
"winds" and radiation cast off by hot young stars as well as explosive supernovas.
Most of the stars live short lives and die spectacularly.
Also visible are bright blue star clusters. European astronomers recently found
that the clusters were probably produced about 25 million years ago in a phase
of energetic star formation that lasted about 20 million years.
"We are looking straight into the very creation processes of the stars and
star clusters in this galaxy," said Peter Anders of Gottingen University. "The
clusters themselves present us with a fossil record of NGC 1569's intense star
formation history."
