Credit: E.J. Schreier, (STScI) and NASA/ESA

The picture is a mosaic of two Hubble Space Telescope images taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, on Aug. 1, 1997 and Jan. 10, 1998. The approximately natural colour is assembled from images taken in blue, green and red light. Details as small as seven light-years across can be resolved. The blue colour is due to the light from extremely hot, newborn stars. The reddish-yellow colour is due in part to hot gas, in part to older stars in the elliptical galaxy and in part to scattering of blue light by dust -- the same effect that produces brilliant orange sunsets on Earth.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9814c/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License