HUBBLE ATLAS

Illustrations

Zoom on Artist's impression

October 30, 2003 · ESA/Hubble

Original on ESA/Hubble ↗

This is an artist's impression of the biggest and brightest star-birth region seen in the universe to date. The newly identified megastar-birth cluster contains 1 million ultra-hot stars and presumably many millions of dimmer stars. Their torrent of ultraviolet radiation illuminates huge placental walls of cold hydrogen gas. This super star-birth region is a rarely seen example of the early days of the universe where furious firestorms of star birth blazed across the skies.