This is the picturesque spiral galaxy Messier 61 (also known as NGC 4303), which is 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It is a starburst galaxy, meaning that it experiences an incredibly high rate of star formation 🌟 hungrily using up its reservoir of gas in a short period of time – astronomically speaking! The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s image was taken for PHANGS, a project that brings together observations from space- and ground-based telescopes of many galaxies to help researchers study all phases of the star formation cycle. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s view of Messier 61 was created from 2003 and 2004 data, captured from the now-decommissioned High Resolution Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys. 📷 nasa , europeanspaceagency , canadianspaceagency , STScI, J. Lee (STScI), T. Williams (Oxford), PHANGS Team 📷 ESA/ hubbleesa & NASA Acknowledgement: Det58 #ESA #Webb