Star birth. Hubble space telescope (HST) image of star birth regions (pink) around the nucleus of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4314. Stars are born from condensing gas and dust, and the pink colour here is hydrogen gas being ionised by radiation from the hot, young stars within it. Star birth in such a welldefined ring is unusual, as it usually occurs randomly in the spiral arms (pale blue here). This image was created by combining images taken in ultraviolet, blue, visible, infrared and Hydrogenalpha light. NGC 4314 is around 40 million lightyears away in the constellation Coma Berenices. Data obtained on 10th June 1998.
