EMBARGOED UNTIL: 5:00 a.m. (EST)/11:00 a.m. (CET) October 30, 2003

CONTACT:
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: )

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre, Garching, Germany
(Phone: +49-(0)89-3200-6306 or +49-(0)173-3872-621; E-mail: )

Robert A.E. Fosbury
European Space Agency/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility,
Germany
(Phone: +49-(0)89-3200-6235; E-mail: )

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR03-32

MEGASTAR-BIRTH CLUSTER IS BIGGEST, BRIGHTEST AND HOTTEST EVER SEEN

A mysterious arc of light found behind a distant cluster of galaxies
has turned out to be the biggest, brightest and hottest star-forming
region ever seen in space. The so-called Lynx arc is 1 million times
brighter than the well-known Orion Nebula, a nearby prototypical
star-birth region visible with small telescopes. The newly identified
supercluster contains a million blue-white stars that are twice as hot
as similar stars in our Milky Way galaxy. It is a rarely seen example of
the early days of the universe where furious firestorms of star birth
blazed across the skies. The spectacular cluster's opulence is dimmed
when seen from Earth only because it is 12 billion light-years away.

To see and read more about the Lynx arc, please click on:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/2003/32 and
http://hubble.esa.int

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), for
NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,
MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation
between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).