One of the really pleasing things about astronomy is how pretty the data can be. A lot of times, a research project will start out with a person or a team taking the newest, highest resolution, longest exposure image of something that is thought to be scientifically interesting. Almost immediately, you can tell, “This is going to be gorgeous”, and you spend a few days or weeks, depending on the complexity of your setup, getting the best possible version of that image put together. And then you spend a few more months or years trying to understand what the heck the image means, but at least when you’re asked, “Whatcha doing?”, you can say, “I took this pretty picture!”

And, right now, if you ask the researchers behind a new, stunning image of the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 1705 what they are doing, they will say, “Analyzing this pretty picture!”

This system is 17 million light-years away, which is roughly seven times farther than the Andromeda Galaxy. The system is rich in young, hot stars that pierce their surroundings with ultraviolet light.  This data picks up the red nebulosity of surrounding hydrogen gas glowing red under the ultraviolet light. 

According to the release that accompanied this image: …astronomers aimed to discover thousands of emission nebulae – regions created when hot, young stars bathe the clouds of gas surrounding them in ultraviolet light, causing them to glow.

Until that research comes out, we have this pretty picture to hold us over.

More Information

NASA Goddard image release