Stellar Forge
The Stellar Forge is absolutely gorgeous to see. This is often what many of us think about when we think about space, and that is by design. This image has likely been seen all over the place for several years now. While known to science as NGC 1792, it stands out as a forge for obvious reasons. At the center, you’ll see an orange glow. Meanwhile, the blue you can see throughout this galaxy shows that it is filled with young, hot stars while the various orange shade shows that it contains several cooler, older stars too. The Stellar Forge is both a spiral and starburst galaxy. By now, you know how it ended up getting the spiral galaxy tag.
Yet how is it also a starburst galaxy? These galaxy types are known for having extremely high rates of star formation. As referenced earlier, there are several young stars here so that makes sense. However, it seems that the large reservoir of gas within this galaxy leads to short-lived starburst phases. That causes mergers and even tidal interactions. It seems supernova explosions and interstellar winds produced the starbursts, which then inject energy into the gas to then disperse it out. It allows for star formation to halt before it can completely deplete the galaxy of its fuel. Thus managing to reserve it until the right time.