This galaxy has an unusually high amount of stars being born: Check out this stunning VLT image

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a mesmerizing image of a starbust galaxy named NGC 4303, also known as Messier 61. This galaxy lies roughly 55 million light-years away from Earth and is one of the largest galactic members of the Virgo Cluster.

Starburst galaxies experience an incredibly high rate of star formation, producing a hundred times more stars than normal galaxies that produce only a couple of new stars per year.

Sharing the images, ESO wrote, "Being a so-called starburst galaxy, it has an unusually high amount of stars being born, and has been used by astronomers as a laboratory to better understand the fascinating phenomena of star formation."

This image was captured using the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.

"Stars form when clouds of cold gas collapse. The energetic radiation from newly born stars will heat and ionise the surrounding remaining gas. The ionised gas will shine, acting as a beacon of ongoing star formation. In this stunning and jewel-like image, this glowing gas can be seen as the whirlpool of gold: the direct traces of stars being born," ESO wrote in the post.

In this picture, gas clouds of ionised oxygen, hydrogen and sulphur are shown in blue, green and red, respectively.

Our latest Picture of the Week features the spiral galaxy NGC 4303, observed with the MUSE instrument at our VLT. Clouds of ionised oxygen, hydrogen and sulphur are shown in blue, green and red, signalling ongoing star formation.🔗 https://t.co/zjmxkKYUriCredit: @ESO /PHANGS pic.twitter.com/fswK0HETHE

— ESO (@ESO) August 1, 2022

Messier 61 and our home galaxy, the Milky Way, both belong to a group of galaxies known as the Virgo Supercluster in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin) - a group of galaxy clusters containing up to 2000 spiral and elliptical galaxies.