Gaze in awe at the beauty of space and beyond! Hubble are the kings of awe inspiring pictures that are often beyond our own comprehension. These pictures let us gaze in awe at our galaxy, universe, solar system or stars that are millions of mile from our home, Earth.
Pillars of Creation (1995)
These columns that resemble stalagmites protruding from the floor of a cavern columns are in fact cool interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that act as incubators for new stars. Inside them and on their surface astronomers have found knots or globules of denser gas. These are called EGGs (acronym for "Evaporating Gaseous Globules"). Inside at least some of the EGGs stars being formed.
Undersea coral? Enchanted castles? Space serpents? These eerie, dark pillar-like structures are actually columns of cool interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that are also incubators for new stars. The pillars protrude from the interior wall of a dark molecular cloud like stalagmites from the floor of a cavern.
Pillars and Jets - Carina Nebula
'Pillars and Jets' is a gaseous hydrogen cloud in the Carina Nebula photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA released the photo as part of its "Celebrating Hubble's 20th Anniversary." The photo is even more magnificent than its famous predecessor, 1995's "Pillars of Creation" seen after this picture below.
Credit: NASA/Hubblesite.org. Download this picture at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2010/13/image/a/
HD Hubble Video
If you only watch one astronomy video this year, make it this one. (If you're going to watch two, watch this one, too.) This is unbelievable eye-candy, and I encourage you to enjoy it! Thanks to Nancy at Universe Today for pointing this out.
More Awe Inspiring HubbleTelescope Pictures
Galaxy Cluster Abell 370
An image taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope shows Gravitational Lensing in Galaxy Cluster Abell 370.
Image released by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 9. NASA
Cone Nebula (NGC 2264)
An image of a pillar of gas and dust. Called the Cone Nebula (NGC 2264) because in ground-based images it has a conical shape, this giant pillar resides in a turbulent star-forming region. This picture, taken April 2, 2002, by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows the upper 2.5 light-yearsof the nebula, a height that equals 23 million roundtrips to the Moon.
The entire nebula is 7 light-years long. The Cone Nebula resides 2,500 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros.
NGC 5194
The 51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog is perhaps the original spiral nebula - a large galaxy with a well defined spiral structure also cataloged as NGC 5194. Over 60,000 light-years across, M51's spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy NGC 5195. Image data from the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys has been reprocessed to produce this alternative portrait of the well-known interacting galaxy pair.
The processing has further sharpened details and enhanced color and contrast in otherwise faint areas, bringing out dust lanes and extended streams that cross the small companion, along with features in the surroundings and core of M51 itself. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant. Not far on the sky from the handle of the Big Dipper, they officially lie within the boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici.
An image taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope shows a clash among members of a famous galaxy quintet reveals an assortment of stars across a wide color range, from young, blue stars to aging, red stars.
Image released by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 9. NASA
This image captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera-2 and released in 2001 shows an unusual edge-on galaxy, revealing details of its warped dusty disk and showing how colliding galaxies spawn the formation of new generations of stars.
During observations of the galaxy the camera, designed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, passed a milestone taking its 100,000th image since shuttle astronauts installed it in the Hubble in 1993. NASA
Globular Star Cluster Omega Centauri
An image taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope shows a panoramic view of a colorful assortment of 100,000 stars residing in the crowded core of a giant star cluster, Globular Star Cluster Omega Centauri.
Image released by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 9. NASA
Carina Nebula
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image creates a picture composed of gas and dust, the pillar resides in a tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina.
The image shows that astronomers are given a much more complete view of the pillar and its contents when distinct details not seen at visible wavelengths are uncovered in near-infrared light. Scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of charged particles) from these stars are sculpting the pillar and causing new stars to form within it. Streamers of gas and dust can be seen flowing off the top of the structure. Image released by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 9. NASA
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217
An image taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope shows Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217.
Image released by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 9. NASA
Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302)
This image shows the planetary nebula, catalogued as NGC 6302, but more popularly called the Bug Nebula or the Butterfly Nebula. The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), a new camera aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was installed by NASA astronauts in May 2009, during the servicing mission to upgrade and repair the 19-year-old Hubble telescope. NGC 6302 lies within our Milky Way galaxy, roughly 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.
Image released by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 9. NASA
The glowing gas is the star's outer layers, expelled over about 2,200 years. The "butterfly" stretches for more than two light-years, which is about half the distance from the Sun to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri.
Jupiter
An image taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, shows the planet Jupiter.
Image released by NASA on Wednesday, Sept. 9. NASA
Resembling the fury of a raging sea, this image actually shows a bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen gas and small amounts of other elements such as oxygen and sulfur. The photograph, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on May 29-30, 1999, captures a small region within M17, a hotbed of star formation. M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.
The image was released to commemorate the thirteenth anniversary of Hubble's launch on April 24, 1990. / NASA
Center of the Omega Nebula
More Hubble space telescope pictures from the Hubble Website
0 comments:
Post a Comment