New Hubble camera captures images of star birth

The image at right shows a star cluster in M83, along with supernovae. The image at left shows a drawn-back view of the region. [photo: NASA]

The star birth was located in one of the swirling arms of the M83 galaxy, also known as “The Southern Pinwheel“. M83 is believed to be the home of more star births than our very own Milky Way galaxy.

The image, which was captured by the “sharp eye” of the Hubble’s new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), also shows unprecedented detail of approximately 60 supernova remains. Supernovae occur during star death.

M83, which is often compared to the Whirlpool Galaxy M51, is located approximately 15 million light-years away from Earth, in the Hydra constellation.