Image 5-12
Spiral Galaxy NGC 1376

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of a bluish-white spiral galaxy known as NGC 1376. The image reveals bright blue knots of glowing gas that highlight areas of active star formation. These regions contain brilliant clusters of hot, newborn stars that are emitting UV light. The less intense, red areas near the core and between the arms consist mainly of older stars. The reddish dust lanes delineate cooler, denser regions where interstellar clouds may collapse to form new stars. NGC 1376 is located approximately 180 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus.