The NASA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of the grand design spiral, NGC 3631.
The galaxy is about 53 million light-years from Earth, in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major.
"Close inspection of NGC 3631’s grand spiral arms reveals dark dust lanes and bright star-forming regions along the inner part of the spiral arms," NASA says. "Star formation in spirals is similar to a traffic jam on the interstate."
Photo: NASA, ESA, P. Sell (University of Florida), and P. Kaaret (University of Iowa)
"Like cars on the highway, slower moving matter in the spiral’s disk creates a bottleneck, concentrating star-forming gas and dust along the inner part of their spiral arms. This traffic jam of matter can get so dense that it gravitationally collapses, creating new stars (here seen in bright blue-white)," said a NASA statement.
The galaxy's blue colors represent visible wavelengths of blue light, while orange represents infrared light.
The agency said the image was developed through data from the telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 and its Advanced Camera for Surveys.
The telescope has been snapping sensational space images since 1990.