Hubble photographs a stellar nursery in a majestic spiral galaxy IC 1954

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows spiral galaxy IC 1954, located 45 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Horologium. At its center is a glowing rod with majestically winding spiral arms, above which is a cloud of black dust. The numerous bright pink dots on the galaxy’s disk are H-alpha regions, which provide astronomers with a view of star-forming nebulae. These nebulae are prominent emitters of red H-alpha light.

Some astronomers theorize that galactic “bars” are actually high-energy star-forming regions that happen to lie above the galaxy’s center.

The data featured in this image comes from a program that extends collaboration between multiple observatories: Hubble, the infrared James Webb Space Telescope, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, a ground-based radio telescope. By studying IC 1954 and more than 50 other nearby galaxies in radio, infrared, optical, and ultraviolet light, astronomers have completely traced and reconstructed the paths that material takes through stars, and determined each galaxy’s It aims to map interstellar gas and dust.

Hubble’s observing capabilities form a key part of this investigation. Hubble can pick up young stars and star clusters when they are brightest in ultraviolet and optical wavelengths, and its H-alpha filter effectively tracks radiation from nebulae. The resulting data set will form a treasure trove of research into the evolution of stars within our galaxy, allowing Webb to build on its foundation as it continues its scientific work into the future.