Massive Stars Make Their Mark in Hubble Image

A pale blue dwarf galaxy on the black backdrop of space with some faraway galaxies. The galaxy itself resembles a fuzzy cloud of tightly packed stars, with a broad halo of stars dispersed around it. Spread across the galaxy’s core are several small, glowing patches of gas where there is a concentration of very hot stars.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a glittering blue dwarf galaxy called Markarian 178 (Mrk 178). The galaxy, which is substantially smaller than our own Milky Way, lies 13 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear). Mrk 178 is one of more than 1,500 Markarian galaxies. These galaxies get their name from … Continue reading Massive Stars Make Their Mark in Hubble Image