Week in Photos: Record Truffle, Robot Dental Exam, More
November 29, 2007—The spiral galaxy Messier 74 festively shines in a new composite image released on Thursday by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
Earth observers see the spiral galaxy nearly face-on, which offers a perfect view of its dusty, symmetrical arms dotted with clusters of young stars (depicted above in blue). M74 lies about 32 million light-years away in the constellation PIsces.
Like a wreath hung with holiday lights, the galaxy appears to be adorned with bright clouds of hydrogen gas (shown in pink)—regions where new stars are being formed.
