This mesmerizing spiral galaxy can tell us how stars are born

“Unravelling the Mysteries of Starbirth: Exploring the Secrets of This Mesmerizing Spiral Galaxy”

ESO/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/PHANGS

Take a few minutes today to take a deep breath and lose yourself in this amazing new photo. See NGC 4303: a spiral galaxy 55 million light years distant in the constellation Virgo. It’s absolutely mesmerizing.

ESO/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/PHANGS

The new image was created from data collected by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) high in the Chilean Andes. This is far from the first-ever photo of NGC 4303, but it has never been presented in such a vivid way. You can see a brilliant golden glow emanating from the center of the galaxy’s core and streaming outward – outlining the structure of the stellar gas from which stars form. The tendrils in blue show stars that have already formed and evolved.

These new colors are thanks to ALMA’s ability to observe NGC 4303 at different wavelengths to give it better definition and determine what elements it is composed of. Previous images of the galaxy, like this one taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, are beautiful in their own right, but the intense light makes it difficult to really see its composition and structure.

NGC 4303 as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.

ESA/Hubble & NASA

In fact, the new data collected by the European Southern Observatory, which operates ALMA, is a result of the Physics at High Angular Resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) project, which uses both ground-based and space-based instruments for galactic observations beyond the electromagnetic Spectrum. A major trend in astronomy today is a more focused attempt to study distant structures using various forms of radio, infrared, optical, and ultraviolet data.

Because of this, images like these are more than just impressive eye candy for astronomers and space obsessives alike. They are used by astronomers to study in detail how the confluence and interaction of gas and dust in space come together to initiate the birth of new stars. They’re particularly interested in finding out which galaxies might harbor the ingredients that can give rise to life.