A blue and
pink pinwheel represents the center of the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, seen in a
composite image by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the National Science
Foundation's Very Large Array in New Mexico.
The Very Large Array's red view of radio emissions shows gaseous hydrogen atoms — raw ingredients for stars that make up the galaxy's
extended arms.The Galaxy Evolution Explorer's ultraviolet view captured the blue and green of the
galaxy's farthest-flung nurseries of young stars, up to 140,000 light-years
from the center.
The
composite view of the galaxy, also known as M83, demonstrates how the baby star
clusters match up with the extended arms of hydrogen gas. That leads
astronomers to speculate that the young stars may have formed under conditions
resembling the early universe, when heavier elements and dust did not exist.
— NASA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/VLA/MPIA
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