A new picture may help scientists unravel the mystery of a vast green blob discovered in a galaxy millions of light years away.
Stargazers unravel the mystery of the glowing green blob. Picture: NASA
Experts at Nasa believe the phenomenon may be giving birth to new stars, in a remote area of the universe where stars were not expected to form.
The blob was discovered by a young Dutch school teacher Hanny van Arkel in 2007, and was named Hanny's Voorwerp (or Hanny's object).
It is the only visible part of a streamer of gas stretching around the galaxy, called IC 2947.
In the picture, taken by the Hubble space telescope, the greenish Voorwerp is visible because a beam of light from the galaxy's core illuminated it.