This new image from the Gemini North Observatory in Hawaii combines data from four color filters to show bright pink regions of intense star formation in the spiral galaxy NGC 3359. Gemini released the picture on April 3, 2009, UT as part of the Around the World in 80 Telescopes event.

The galaxy is of particular interest to astronomers because the bar full of stars at its center is relatively young--just 500 million years old--compared to the rest of the galaxy, which is thought to be several billion years old.

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