Starburst galaxy
Studying nearby starburst galaxies can help us explore the history of galaxy formation and evolution. Many very distant galaxies seen, for example, in the Hubble Deep Field are known to be starbursts, but they are too far away to be studied in any detail. Looking at nearby examples give us an idea of what was happening in the early universe. The light we see from distant galaxies left them when the universe was much younger (see redshift).