SPACE
THE TRIANGULUM GALAXY SHINES IN ANEW HUBBLE IMAGE
WORDS SAMANTHA MATHEWSON
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The Hubble Space Telescope orbits Earth at 17,000 miles per hour
A nearby galaxy is shining with star formation in a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope. The spiral galaxy Messier 33, also known as the Triangulum Galaxy, is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy and our own Milky Way. Measuring only 60,000 light years across, Messier 33 is about half the size of the Milky Way. Located nearly 3 million light years from Earth, the Triangulum Galaxy is regarded as a ‘hotbed of starbirth’, forming stars at a rate ten times higher than the neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy. “Interestingly, Messier 33’s neat, organised spiral arms indicate little interaction with other galaxies, so its rapid starbirth is not fuelled by galactic collision, as in many other galaxies,” NASA officials said.