NASA Reveals Remarkable Hubble Image of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy

A remarkable Hubble Space Telescope image of the Southern Pinwheel - a barred spiral galaxy about 15 million light years away - was released by NASA Thursday.

The wisps of blue and soft magenta seen in the image reveal the galaxy is forming new stars at a rapid rate, NASA said, adding that the photograph captures thousands of star clusters, hundreds of thousands of individual stars, and the remnants of supernovas.

Located in the constellation Hydra, the Southern Pinwheel - officially known as spiral galaxy M83 - is a frequent target for both professional and amateur astronomers.

The Southern Pinwheel, NASA said, is a "galactic panorama" that "unveils a tapestry of the drama of stellar birth and death spread across 50,000 of light years."

The pinkish glow is produced by hydrogen gas generated by the newest stars, which lie along the edges of the galaxy's dark spiral dust lanes.

According to NASA: "The fierce stellar winds from the youngest, most massive stars blow away the gas, revealing bright blue star clusters and giving a 'Swiss Cheese' appearance to the spiral arms. These youngest star clusters are about 1 million to 10 million years old. The populations of stars up to 100 million years or older appear yellow or orange by comparison because the young blue stars have already burned out."

Embedded within the image are at least 300 supernova remnants.

By studying these supernova remnants, NASA said, astronomers can gain a better understanding of the nature of stars that exploded and "dispersed nuclear processed chemical elements back into the galaxy," which laid the path for the next generation of new stars.

This image of the Southern Pinwheel is being used to kick off a citizen science campaign, where NASA has invited amateur astronomers to help calculate the age of approximately 3,000 star clusters withing the galaxy.

The project, known as Star Date: M83, is scheduled to launch Mon., Jan. 13. More information here.