A Lonely Galaxy Gives Birth to Hundreds of Stars

Normally, galaxies create only a few stars per year, but this one, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, is producing a hundred more times than that — a frenzy of star creation known as a starburst.

The galaxy, with the catchy name of MCG+07-33-027, is 300 million light-years away from us but is clearly visible to astronomers due to its busy and bright star forming regions.

Parent galaxies form stars out of large reservoirs of gas, which are slowly depleted over time as more stars are born. A starburst, a period of intense star formation, usually occurs when one galaxy collides with one of its neighbors. Strangely, this galaxy is isolated and far from any neighbors. If a collision didn’t cause the starburst, then what did? Astronomers are still speculating.

As for that bright object to the right, that’s a much closer star in our own galaxy.