Look at your eyes on this near "dead" galaxy, thanks to Hubble

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Not so dead after all

Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes, and the galaxies most pleasing to the eye always have the most recognizable forms. Dramatic spirals with outstretched arms filled with new stars are always a breathtaking sight, after all. Messier 110 is absolutely not in this group.

Messier 110 is what is called an elliptical galaxy. It has no well-formed features, and it's not a swirling mass of candy for the eyes. It's just a large amount of stars lying around in the Andromeda galaxy. As for galaxies, it's rather small, but NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has a certain talent for giving the impression that even "small" destinations in space are larger than life.

As NASA explains, this picture of Messier 110 reveals the true personality of the galaxy. It's not particularly bright or fun, but it's full of stars. Although there is no obvious star nursery, scientists believe that new stars are still emerging here.

Here is what NASA had to say:

Because they lack stellate nurseries and mostly contain old stars, elliptical galaxies are often considered "dead" compared to their spiral parents. However, astronomers have spotted signs of a population of young blue stars in the center of Messier 110, hinting that she might not be as "dead" after all.

Associated slideshow: A look at the universe through the Hubble Space Telescope (Provided by photo services)

Scientists have been studying how galaxies are born, grow and die for a long time, but there is still so much we do not know about this process. The observations suggest that Messier 110 is an almost exhausted galaxy dotted with ancient stars, but can such galaxies be reborn into something new or just waiting to be engulfed by even larger galaxies like Andromeda?

These are things we still do not know and, as events take billions of years to unfold, we will never really understand how it all works. At least we can enjoy the view.