The Hubble Space Telescope affords astronomers great looks at stars within the Milky Way, but it's sensitive enough to also study objects outside our home galaxy.

And Hubble's views of distant places allow astronomers to ask a variety of interesting questions, such as, Why are so many stars in NGC 2031 shining in blue?

In an image description(opens in new tab) that accompanies a glittering Hubble shot of NGC 2031, NASA officials offer information about what astronomers think so far.

NGC 2031 is located outside the Milky Way, in a much smaller satellite galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud.

"Its location in this crowded area results in 'stellar contamination,' a phenomenon where the atmospheres and surface features of nearby stars affect the measurements of objects under study," according to the space agency.

Using measurements from Cepheid variable stars, scientists estimate the distance of NGC 2031 to be about 150,000 light-years from Earth.