Galactic Sparkler
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February 2, 2011 A recent image from La Silla Observatory in Chile shows NGC 3621, a beautiful spiral galaxy in Hydra, the water snake. The galaxy is about 22 million light-years away. The dark lanes between bright spiral arms contain lots of dust, which can give birth to new stars. Clumps of star formation shine fiery red. The larger points around the galaxy are stars in our own galaxy. Another spiral galaxy, viewed face-on, is at bottom center. [ESO/Joe DePasquale]
