Image Archive: Anniversary

Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76, annotated)

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 16:00:00 +0200

In celebration of the 34th anniversary of the launch of the legendary NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers took a snapshot of the Little Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 76, M76, or NGC 650/651) located 3400 light-years away in the northern circumpolar constellation Perseus. The photogenic nebula is a favourite target of amateur astronomers.

M76 is classified as a planetary nebula. This is a misnomer because it is unrelated to planets. But its round shape suggested it was a planet to astronomers who first viewed it through low-power telescopes. In reality, a planetary nebula is an expanding shell of glowing gases that were ejected from a dying red giant star. The star eventually collapses to an ultra-dense, hot white dwarf.

M76 is composed of a ring, seen edge-on as the central bar structure, and two lobes on either opening of the ring. Before the star burned out, it ejected the ring of gas and dust. The ring was probably sculpted by the effects of the star that once had a binary companion star. This sloughed-off material created a thick disc of dust and gas along the plane of the companion’s orbit. The hypothetical companion star isn’t seen in the Hubble image, and so it could have been later swallowed by the central star. The disc would be forensic evidence for that stellar cannibalism.

The primary star is collapsing to form a white dwarf. It is one of the hottest stellar remnants known at a scorching 120 000 degrees Celsius, 24 times our Sun’s surface temperature.  The sizzling white dwarf can be seen as a pinpoint in the centre of the nebula. A star visible in projection beneath it is not part of the nebula.  

Pinched off by the disc, two lobes of hot gas are escaping from the top and bottom of the ‘belt’ along the star’s rotation axis that is perpendicular to the disc. They are being propelled by the hurricane-like outflow of material from the dying star, tearing across space at two million miles per hour. That’s fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in a little over seven minutes! This torrential ‘stellar wind’ is ploughing into cooler, slower-moving gas that was ejected at an earlier stage in the star’s life, when it was a red giant. Ferocious ultraviolet radiation from the super-hot star is causing the gases to glow. The red colour is from nitrogen, and blue is from oxygen. 

The entire nebula is a flash in the pan by cosmological timekeeping. It will vanish in about 15 000 years.

[Image description: Annotated image labeled “Little Dumbbell Nebula, M76, HST WFC3/UVIS” against the black background of space. Near top left, a color key consisting of five lines reads: “F475W SDSS g’” in light blue; “F502N OIII” in dark blue; “F656N Ha” in green; “F658N NIII” in red; and “F814W I” in orange. The nebula is located 3,400 light-years away in the northern circumpolar constellation Perseus. The name ‘Little Dumbbell’ comes from its shape that is a two-lobed structure of colorful, mottled, glowing gases resembling a balloon that’s been pinched around a middle waist. Like an inflating balloon, the lobes are expanding into space from a dying star seen as a white dot in the centre. Blistering ultraviolet radiation from the super-hot star is causing the gases to glow. The red color is from nitrogen, and blue is from oxygen. At bottom left corner is a scale bar labeled “1 light-year.” At bottom right corner, the “E” compass arrow points towards the 10 o’clock position. The “N” arrow points towards the 1 o’clock position.] 

Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76)

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 16:00:00 +0200

The primary star is collapsing to form a white dwarf. It is one of the hottest stellar remnants known at a scorching 120 000 degrees Celsius, 24 times our Sun’s surface temperature. The sizzling white dwarf can be seen as a pinpoint in the centre of the nebula. A star visible in projection beneath it is not part of the nebula.

The entire nebula is a flash in the pan by cosmological timekeeping. It will vanish in about 15 000 years.

[Image description: A Hubble image of the Little Dumbbell Nebula. The name comes from its shape, which is a two-lobed structure of colourful, mottled glowing gases that resemble a balloon that has been pinched around a middle waist. Like an inflating balloon, the lobes are expanding into space from a dying star seen as a white dot in the centre. Blistering ultraviolet radiation from the super-hot star is causing the gases to glow. The red colour is from nitrogen, and blue is from oxygen.] 

ESA/Hubble Celebrates Telescope’s 31st Anniversary

Sat, 21 May 2022 18:00:00 +0200

In April 2021, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will celebrate 31 years since its launch.

Each year, ESA/Hubble develops a series of anniversary engagement initiatives to involve the public in the celebrations of Hubble’s impact in engineering, science and culture. Project updates pertaining to Hubble’s 31st anniversary around April and May 2021 are posted here.

The Hickson Compact Group 40 - Annotated

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 16:00:00 +0200

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 32nd birthday with a stunning look at an unusual close-knit collection of five galaxies, called the Hickson Compact Group 40. This snapshot reflects a special moment in their lifetimes as they fall together before they merge.

The Hickson Compact Group 40

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 16:00:00 +0200

Hubble Celebrates its 31st anniversary with a magnificent view of AG Carinae

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 15:00:00 +0200

In celebration of the 31st anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers aimed the celebrated observatory at one of the brightest stars seen in our galaxy to capture its beauty.

The giant star featured in this latest Hubble Space Telescope anniversary image is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to avoid self-destruction. The star, called AG Carinae, is surrounded by an expanding shell of gas and dust. The nebula is about five light-years wide, which equals the distance from here to our nearest star, Alpha Centauri.

Collage of Hubble 30 Artistic Creations

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 10:00:00 +0200

A Flickr album has been published to showcase the variety of creations that were received. A special Hubblecast has also been created to feature some of the submitted creations received. We encourage you to explore and enjoy these beautiful Hubble-inspired creations!

Call for Artistic Creations: Let’s Say Thank You to Hubble!

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 13:00:00 +0200

Call for Artistic Creations: Let’s Say Thank You to Hubble!

Tapestry of Blazing Starbirth

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 13:00:00 +0200

This image is one of the most photogenic examples of the many turbulent stellar nurseries the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has observed during its 30-year lifetime. The portrait features the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbour NGC 2020 which together form part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, approximately 163 000 light-years away.

Wide-field view of NGC 2014 and NGC 2020 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (Ground-based Image)

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 13:00:00 +0200

This wide-field view captures the pair of nebulae NGC 2014 and NGC 2020 in the constellation of Dorado (The Swordfish). These two glowing clouds of gas, in the centre of the frame, are located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies. Both are sculpted by powerful winds from hot young stars.

This view was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2.

Media Advisory: Hubble 30

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 10:00:00 +0200

Host Locations for Hubble’s 30th Anniversary Image Unveiling

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0100

The countries with various education venues that will host events in celebration of Hubble’s 30th year in orbit, including the unveiling of a large and high-quality print of the 30th anniversary image provided by ESA/Hubble, are shown on this map.

These countries are: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Cover Page of the Hubble 30 Hidden Gems Calendar

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0100

This is the cover page for the Hidden Gems 2020 30th Anniversary Calendar of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The electronic version of the calendar is available in digital and print-ready versions for anyone to share and enjoy.

The Crab of the Southern Sky

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0200

The Southern Crab Nebula — Hubble’s 29th anniversary image.

Hubble's 28th birthday picture: The Lagoon Nebula

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:00:00 +0200

To celebrate its 28th anniversary in space the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope took this amazing and colourful image of the Lagoon Nebula. The whole nebula, about 4000 light-years away, is an incredible 55 light-years wide and 20 light-years tall. This image shows only a small part of this turbulent star-formation region, about four light-years across.

This stunning nebula was first catalogued in 1654 by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna, who sought to record nebulous objects in the night sky so they would not be mistaken for comets. Since Hodierna’s observations, the Lagoon Nebula has been photographed and analysed by many telescopes and astronomers all over the world.

The observations were taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 between 12 February and 18 February 2018.

A close galactic pair

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 16:00:00 +0200

This image displays the galaxies NGC 4302 — seen edge-on — and NGC 4298, both located 55 million light-years away. They were observed by Hubble to celebrate its 27th year in orbit.

The galaxy NGC 4298 is seen almost face-on, allowing us to see its spiral arms and the blue patches of ongoing star formation and young stars. In the edge-on disc of NGC 4302 huge swathes of dust are responsible for the mottled brown patterns, but a burst of blue to the left side of the galaxy indicates a region of extremely vigorous star formation.

The image is a mosaic of four separate captures from Hubble, taken between 2 and 22 January 2017, that have been stitched together to give this amazing field of view. Two different types of light emitted by the galaxies — visible and near-infrared — have been combined to give a rich and colourful image. This light was captured by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, one of the telescope’s most advanced imaging instruments.

Still from Hubblecast 92: 26th anniversary

Thu, 21 Apr 2016 17:00:00 +0200

This is a still from Hubblecast 92 in which the Bubble Nebula is presented. The spectacular object was observed to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hubble.

Hubble revisits tangled NGC 6240

Mon, 18 May 2015 10:00:00 +0200

Not all galaxies are neatly shaped, as this new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 6240 clearly demonstrates. Hubble previously released an image of this galaxy back in 2008, but the knotted region, shown here in a pinky-red hue at the centre of the galaxies, was only revealed in these observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys.

NGC 6240 lies 400 million light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Holder). This galaxy has an elongated shape with branching wisps, loops and tails. This mess of gas, dust and stars bears more than a passing resemblance to a butterfly and, though perhaps less conventionally beautiful, a lobster.

This bizarrely-shaped galaxy did not begin its life looking like this; its distorted appearance is a result of a galactic merger that occurred when two galaxies drifted too close to one another. This merger sparked bursts of new star formation and triggered many hot young stars to explode as supernovae. A new supernova was discovered in this galaxy in 2013, named SN 2013dc. It is not visible in this image, but its location is indicated here.

At the centre of NGC 6240 an even more interesting phenomenon is taking place. When the two galaxies came together, their central black holes did so too. There are two supermassive black holes within this jumble, spiralling closer and closer to one another. They are currently only some 3000 light-years apart, incredibly close given that the galaxy itself spans 300 000 light-years. This proximity secures their fate as they are now too close to escape each other and will soon form a single immense black hole.

Westerlund 2 — Hubble’s 25th anniversary image

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 15:15:00 +0200

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the cluster Westerlund 2 and its surroundings has been released to celebrate Hubble’s 25th year in orbit and a quarter of a century of new discoveries, stunning images and outstanding science.

The image’s central region, containing the star cluster, blends visible-light data taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys and near-infrared exposures taken by the Wide Field Camera 3. The surrounding region is composed of visible-light observations taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

New Hubble image of NGC 2174

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 10:00:00 +0100

To celebrate its 24th year in orbit, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has released this beautiful new image of part of NGC 2174, also known as the Monkey Head Nebula.

NGC 2174 lies about 6400 light-years away in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter). Hubble previously viewed this part of the sky back in 2011 — the colourful region is filled with young stars embedded within bright wisps of cosmic gas and dust.

This portion of the Monkey Head Nebula was imaged in the infrared using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.

New infrared view of the Horsehead Nebula — Hubble’s 23rd anniversary image

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:00:00 +0200

This new Hubble image, captured and released to celebrate the telescope’s 23rd year in orbit, shows part of the sky in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter). Rising like a giant seahorse from turbulent waves of dust and gas is the Horsehead Nebula, otherwise known as Barnard 33.

This image shows the region in infrared light, which has longer wavelengths than visible light and can pierce through the dusty material that usually obscures the nebula’s inner regions. The result is a rather ethereal and fragile-looking structure, made of delicate folds of gas — very different to the nebula’s appearance in visible light.

Hubble's panoramic view of a star-forming region

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:00:00 +0200

30 Doradus is the brightest star-forming region in our galactic neighbourhood and home to the most massive stars ever seen. The nebula resides 170 000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small, satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. No known star-forming region in our galaxy is as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus.

The image comprises one of the largest mosaics ever assembled from Hubble photos and includes observations taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, combined with observations from the European Southern Observatory’s MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope which trace the location of glowing hydrogen and oxygen.

The image is being released to celebrate Hubble's 22nd anniversary.

A rose made of galaxies

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:00:00 +0200

This image of a pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 273 was released to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The distorted shape of the larger of the two galaxies shows signs of tidal interactions with the smaller of the two. It is thought that the smaller galaxy has actually passed through the larger one.

Hubble captures view of “Mystic Mountain”

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:00:00 +0200

This craggy fantasy mountaintop enshrouded by wispy clouds looks like a bizarre landscape from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, which is even more dramatic than fiction, captures the chaotic activity atop a pillar of gas and dust, three light-years tall, which is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being assaulted from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks.

This turbulent cosmic pinnacle lies within a tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. The image celebrates the 20th anniversary of Hubble's launch and deployment into an orbit around the Earth.

Scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of charged particles) from super-hot newborn stars in the nebula are shaping and compressing the pillar, causing new stars to form within it. Streamers of hot ionised gas can be seen flowing off the ridges of the structure, and wispy veils of gas and dust, illuminated by starlight, float around its towering peaks. The denser parts of the pillar are resisting being eroded by radiation.

Nestled inside this dense mountain are fledgling stars. Long streamers of gas can be seen shooting in opposite directions from the pedestal at the top of the image. Another pair of jets is visible at another peak near the centre of the image. These jets, (known as HH 901 and HH 902, respectively, are signposts for new star birth and are launched by swirling gas and dust discs around the young stars, which allow material to slowly accrete onto the stellar surfaces.

Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 observed the pillar on 1-2 February 2010. The colours in this composite image correspond to the glow of oxygen (blue), hydrogen and nitrogen (green), and sulphur (red).

Hubble celebrates 19th anniversary with fountain of youth

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:00:00 +0200

This brilliant image, courtesy of NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope, is a fitting 19th anniversary tribute to the workhorse space observatory.

This interacting group contains several galaxies, along with a "cosmic fountain" of stars, gas and dust that stretches over 100 000 light-years. Resembling a pair of owl's eyes, the two nuclei of the colliding galaxies can be seen in the process of merging at the upper left. The bizarre blue bridge of material extending out from the northern component looks as if it connects to a third galaxy but in reality the galaxy is in the background and not connected at all. The blue "fountain" is the most striking feature of this galaxy troupe and it contains complexes of super star clusters that may have as many as dozens of individual young star clusters in them.

Image Archive: Anniversary

Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76, annotated)

Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76)

ESA/Hubble Celebrates Telescope’s 31st Anniversary

The Hickson Compact Group 40 - Annotated

The Hickson Compact Group 40

Hubble Celebrates its 31st anniversary with a magnificent view of AG Carinae

Collage of Hubble 30 Artistic Creations

Call for Artistic Creations: Let’s Say Thank You to Hubble!

Tapestry of Blazing Starbirth

Wide-field view of NGC 2014 and NGC 2020 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (Ground-based Image)

Media Advisory: Hubble 30

Host Locations for Hubble’s 30th Anniversary Image Unveiling

Cover Page of the Hubble 30 Hidden Gems Calendar

The Crab of the Southern Sky

Hubble's 28th birthday picture: The Lagoon Nebula

A close galactic pair

Still from Hubblecast 92: 26th anniversary

Hubble revisits tangled NGC 6240

Links

Westerlund 2 — Hubble’s 25th anniversary image

New Hubble image of NGC 2174

New infrared view of the Horsehead Nebula — Hubble’s 23rd anniversary image

Hubble's panoramic view of a star-forming region

A rose made of galaxies

Hubble captures view of “Mystic Mountain”

Hubble celebrates 19th anniversary with fountain of youth