Don't let anyone treat you like a yellow starburst. You're a pink starburst. 💖 What you're seeing here is a starburst in a distant galaxy. The Cigar Galaxy, located 12 million light-years from Earth, gets its name from its thin, cigar-like appearance. The Cigar Galaxy is actually a spiral galaxy, like our own Milky Way—we're just seeing it on its side. Gravitational forces from its galactic neighbor (known as M81, or Messier 81) are resonating through the Cigar Galaxy, causing stars to form at an extraordinarily high rate. Eventually, though, the Cigar Galaxy will burn itself out: when it runs out of new material to make stars, likely in tens of millions of years, the starburst will subside. This image of the Cigar Galaxy was unveiled by our NASAHubble telescope team in 2006. The red in the image represents hydrogen and infrared light, indicating starburst activity. The blue and greenish-yellow colors are visible wavelengths of light. Image description: A ghostly, bluish-yellow ...