A busy galaxy is puffing out material like a factory smokestack. The “plume” is 20,000 light-years long, and it contains enough gas to make 50 million stars as massive as the Sun.

NGC 4383 is about 60 million light-years away. It’s a member of the Virgo Cluster – a collection of hundreds of galaxies.

Like our home galaxy, the Milky Way, NGC 4383 is a spiral. Bright “arms” of hot, young stars wrap around the galaxy’s heart.

The galaxy is a hotbed of star formation – it’s giving birth to thousands of stars. Many of them are especially hot and massive. They blow strong winds of hot gas. And when they die, they explode, creating an even heavier flow. That flow pushes the gas that’s around the stars, creating the powerful “chimney.” Gas in that outflow moves at an average of about 670,000 miles per hour. And every year, enough gas is added to make two more Suns.

All that activity reduces the amount of gas available to make more stars. So eventually, the outflow of gas will shut down the stellar nursery in this busy galaxy.

Although it’s a member of the Virgo Cluster, NGC 4383 is located within the borders of Coma Berenices. The constellation is low in the east in early evening. It consists of a faint spray of sparkly stars, although you need dark skies to see them. You need a telescope to see NGC 4383.

Script by Damond Benningfield