Blue marks the spot for baby stars

This is certainly a peculiar galaxy, but it is no less beautiful. The Hubble Space Telescope observed the enormous NGC 4100, and highlighted the regions where new, young stars are being born.

In a galaxy’s spiral arms, gas and dust can lay dormant for billions of years, but when gravity pulls material together, it kick-starts explosive star formation. This stellar inception causes Herculean emissions of radiation that illuminate the surrounding gas – Hubble has picked this out as bright, blue patches.