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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

🌌 NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Starburst Galaxy M94

Date: 1995-10-16

Starburst Galaxy M94

View HD Image

Explanation:

The spiral galaxy M94 is somewhat unusual in that it shows a great ring of bright young stars particularly apparent when observed in ultraviolet light, as shown above. Such a high abundance of these young blue stars may cause a galaxy to be designated a starburst galaxy. It is likely that many of the stars seen in the above ring were created when a density wave moving in the galaxy compressed existing galactic gas. The above picture was taken by the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope during the Astro-2 mission in March 1995.