Live fast, die young

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 10 APRIL 2017

Bright speckles of blue are a surefire way of telling that a galaxy is active and producing hot, young stars. NGC 4536 is certainly active, and is an example of a starburst galaxy. These galactic specimens produce stars at an extremely rapid rate, to the extent that they use up their cosmic gas more quickly than it can be replenished. The fate is similar for the stars within the galaxy, which burn intensely and exhaust their gas supply within a relatively short period of time.