NASA/Hubble ST - The Sleeping Beauty/M64
You are seeing the result of two galaxies colliding about a billion years ago. The center, where you see white blaze, is rotating clockwise. In the outer portion of the galaxy you see this black, gaseous area. This area is rotating counter-clockwise. Now, where the two regions meet, the “shear”, there is this incredible explosion of new, hot, blue stars. That’s the result of the tremendous forces involved pushing and moving against each other. Around those gorgeous blue stars, you’ll see pink emission nebulae. This is where the light from the stars is shining into the interstellar gasses and dust, and reflecting this glorious pink color (which our Hubble picked up).
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