February, 29, 2008—A mosaic of 39 individual frames form "the most detailed ultraviolet image of an entire galaxy ever taken," NASA's Stefan Immler, who created the composite said in a statement.

Triangulum Galaxy (pictured) is one of the "Local Group" galaxies, which include our own Milky Way galaxy and neighboring Andromeda galaxy.

Immler used the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope on NASA's Swift satellite to capture the images through three separate ultraviolet filters from late December 2007 to early January 2008.

Young stars produce so much ultraviolet light that they heat up surrounding clouds, which then also glow ultraviolet.

"The entire galaxy is ablaze with star-birth," Immler said of Triangulum.

Immler said the information from the new image can be used to determine the star-forming history of the galaxy.

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