This is a galaxy named M83, which is usually a faint smudge in the constellation Hydra. Up close, however, Hubble Space Telescope was able to see that it’s “ablaze with star formation.”
The image is also cool for another reason:
This image is being used to support a citizen science project titled STAR DATE: M83. The primary goal is to estimate ages for approximately 3,000 star clusters. Amateur scientists will use the presence or absence of the pink hydrogen emission, the sharpness of the individual stars, and the color of the clusters to estimate ages. Participants will measure the sizes of the star clusters and any associated emission nebulae. Finally, the citizen scientists will “explore” the image, identifying a variety of objects ranging from background galaxies to supernova remnants to foreground stars.
Want to find out more? Go here: http://www.projectstardate.org.