Running Time: 30 seconds

This is a zoom into the "blue blobs" found along a wispy bridge of gas strung among three colliding galaxies, M81, M82, and NGC 3077 residing about 12 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope found these objects to be brilliant blue star clusters born in the swirls and eddies of a galactic smashup 200 million years ago. Video starts with a backyard view of Ursa Major. Camera zooms into the M81 and M82 galaxy pair. Scene ends with close-up Hubble view of the "blue blobs."

Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)