Young, Hot Stars in a Spiral Arm of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

A detail of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) showing a small part of one spiral arm. It reveals brilliant, blue clusters of young, hot stars embedded in vast clouds of glowing gas and darker dust.

About the colours

Blue: F435W (B) Green: F555W (V) Red: F658N (Halpha + [N II]) + F814W (I)

About the data

This image was created from HST data from proposal 10452 : S. Beckwith (STScI), R. Kennicutt Jr. (University of Arizona), and H. Bond, C. Christian, L. Frattare, F. Hamilton, Z. Levay, M. Mutchler, K. Noll, and T. Royle (The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI). Note: High level science products (combined and mosaiced fits files for each filter) are available at: http://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/m51