A Bright Ring of Star Birth around a Galaxy's Core

ABOUT THIS IMAGE:

This image, shows Hubble's close-up view of the galaxy's core, taken in December 1995 by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The bluish-purple clumps that form the ring are the clusters of infant stars. Two dark, wispy lanes of dust and a pair of blue spiral arms are just outside the star-forming ring. The lanes of dust are being shepherded into the ring by the longer, primary stellar bar seen in the ground-based image. The gas is trapped inside the ring through the stars' gravitational attraction.

Object Name: NGC 4314

Image Type: Astronomical

Credits: G. Fritz Benedict, Andrew Howell, Inger Jorgensen, David Chapell (University of Texas), Jeffery Kenney (Yale University), and Beverly J. Smith (CASA, University of Colorado), and NASA

NEWS RELEASE IMAGES

The above image is part of a montage:

Montage Image: A Bright Ring of Star Birth Around Core of Galaxy NGC 4314 (right), and Ground-Based Image (left) Image Type: Astronomical/Annotated PRC1998-21 McDonald Observatory image of NGC 4314 Image Type: Astronomical

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