Hubble's Improved Optics Reveal Incredible Detail in Giant Cloud of Gas and Dust
An image of a star-forming region in the 30 Doradus nebula, surrounding the dense star cluster R136. The image was obtained using the second generation Wide Filed and Planetary Camera (WFPC-2), installed in the Hubble Space Telescope during the STS-61 Servicing Mission. The WFPC-2 contains modified optics to correct for the aberration of the Hubble's primary mirror. The new optics will allow the telescope to tackle many of the most important scientific programs for which the it was built, but had to be temporarily shelved with the discovery of the spherical aberration in 1990. (More at Hubble Site)
Hubble Space Telescope Images of a Bright Star in the Large Magellanic Cloud
These three images are of a very bright (Wolf-Rayet) star, Melnick 34, located in the giant star-forming region called 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In the background are a number of fainter stars that are comparable in brightness to our Sun.
A ground-based telescope captured the image at left. Hubble's first-generation visible-light camera, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera, snapped the center picture before the telescope's blurred vision was corrected. The image at right was taken by Hubble's new visible-light camera, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, which is equipped with a corrective optics system. In this new image the star appears sharper, and a larger number of fainter stars are visible. (More at Hubble Site)
Hubble Sees Changes in Gas Shell around Nova Cygni 1992
The Hubble telescope has given astronomers their best look yet at a rapidly ballooning bubble of gas blasted off a star.
The shell surrounds Nova Cygni 1992, which erupted Feb. 19, 1992. A nova is a thermonuclear explosion that occurs on the surface of a white dwarf star in a double-star system. The image
, taken after Hubble's near-sightedness had been corrected, reveals an elliptical and slightly lumpy ring-like structure. The ring is the edge of a bubble of hot gas blasted into space by the nova. Another Hubble picture taken 467 days after the explosion
provided the first glimpse of the ring and a mysterious bar-like structure. But the image interpretation was severely hampered by the telescope's blurred vision. (More at Hubble Site)
HST Reveals the Central Region of an Active Galaxy
The refurbished HST has provided this outstanding image of the nuclear region of the galaxy NGC 1068. NGC 1068 is located at a distance of approximately 60 Million Light Years and is the prototype of a class of galaxies, known as Seyfert Type 2. (More at Hubble Site)
The Spiral Galaxy M100 as Seen With the Hubble's Improved Vision
An image of the grand design spiral galaxy M100 obtained with the second generation Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC-2), newly installed in the Hubble Space Telescope. Though the galaxy lies several tens of millions of light-years away, modified optics incorporated within the WFPC-2 allow Hubble to view M100 with a level of clarity and sensitivity previously possible only for the very few nearby galaxies that compose our "Local Group." Just as one does not learn about the diversity of mankind by conversing only with your next door neighbor, astronomers must study many galaxies in a host of different environments if they are to come to understand how our own galaxy, out star, and our earth came to be. By expanding the region of the universe that can be studied in such detail a thousand fold, the WFPC-2 will help the Hubble Space Telescope to fulfill this mission. (More at Hubble Site)
Hubble Observes a Star On the Brink of Destruction
A NASA Hubble Space Telescope "natural color" image of the material surrounding the star Eta Carinae, as imaged by the Wide Fuel Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC-2).
The Camera was installed in the Hubble Space Telescope during the STS-61 Hubble Servicing Mission. The WFPC-2 optically corrects for the aberration of the telescope's primary minor, restoring the telescope's vision to its originally planned clarity. (More at Hubble Site)
A NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a region of the Great Nebula in Orion, as imaged by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.
This is one of the nearest regions of very recent star formation (300,000 years ago). The nebula is a giant gas cloud illuminated by the brightest of the young hot stars at the top of the picture. Many of the fainter young stars are surrounded by disks of dust and gas, that are slightly more than twice the diameter of the solar system (or 100 Astronomical Units in diameter). (More at Hubble Site)
Hubble Uncovers Faint Stars in the Core of Globular Cluster
These comparison images of the core of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae (NGC104) were taken with the COSTAR Corrected Faint Object Camera to show the improvement In performance when compared to images taken with the uncorrected camera. (More at Hubble Site)
reveals a faint galaxy, the home of a quasar. The wealth of new detail in this picture helps solve a three-decade-old mystery about the true nature of quasars, the most distant and energetic objects in the universe.
The picture clearly shows that the quasar, called 1229+204, lies in the core of a galaxy that has a common shape, consisting of two spiral arms of stars connected by a bar-like feature. The host galaxy is in a spectacular collision with a dwarf galaxy. That collision apparently fuels the quasar "engine" at the galaxy's center - presumably a massive black hole - and also triggers many sites of new star-formation. A ground-based telescope also snapped a view of the quasar and its host galaxy
Hubble Observes the Supernova in the Whirlpool Galaxy
The Hubble telescope has returned valuable new images of supernova 1994I in the inner regions of the "Whirlpool Galaxy," M51, located 20 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. The arrow marks the supernova's location.
The supernova was discovered by amateur astronomers on April 2, 1994 and has been the target of investigations by astronomers using ground-based optical and radio telescopes. At its brightest, around April 10, the supernova was about 100 million times more luminous than the Sun. A supernova is a violent stellar explosion that destroys a massive star. (More at Hubble Site)
Hubble Confirms Existence of Massive Black Hole at Heart of Active Galaxy
Astronomers using the Hubble telescope have found seemingly conclusive evidence for a massive black hole in the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87, located 50 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. Earlier observations suggested that the black hole was present, but they were not decisive.
This observation provides very strong support for the existence of gravitationally collapsed objects, which were predicted 80 years ago by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. This image shows a spiral-shaped disk of hot gas in the core of M87. Hubble measurements indicate that the disk's rapid rotation is strong evidence that it contains a massive black hole. A black hole is so massive and compact that nothing can escape its gravitational pull, not even light. (More at Hubble Site)
Hubble Confirms Abundance of Protoplanetary Disks around Newborn Stars
Astronomers using the Hubble telescope have uncovered the strongest evidence yet that the planet-making process is common in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Observations clearly reveal that great disks of dust – the raw material for planet formation – are swirling around at least half and probably many more of the stars in the Orion Nebula, a star-forming region only 1,500 light-years from Earth. (More at Hubble Site)
Color Hubble Image of Multiple Comet Impacts on Jupiter
Image of Jupiter with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's Planetary Camera. Eight impact sights are visible. From left to right are the E/F complex (barely visible on the edge of the planet), the star shaped H site, the impact sites for tiny N, Q1, small Q2, and R, and on the far right limb the D/G complex. The D/G complex also shows extended haze at the edge of the planet. The features are rapidly evolving on timescales of days. The smallest features in the this image are less than 200 kilometers across. This image is a color composite of three filters at 9530, 5500, and 4100 Angstroms. (More at Hubble Site)
Photo Illustration of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 & Planet Jupiter
This is a composite photo, assembled from separate images of Jupiter and cornet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9, as imaged by the Wide Field & Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), aboard. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). (More at Hubble Site)
Hubble Ultraviolet Image of Multiple Comet Impacts on Jupiter
Ultraviolet image of Jupiter taken by the Wide Field Camera of the Hubble Space Telescope. The image shows Jupiter's atmosphere at a wavelength of 2550 Angstroms after many impacts by fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. (More at Hubble Site)
This is a NASA's Hubble Space Telescope image of the impact sites of fragments "D" and "G" from Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 which collided with the giant planet Jupiter. The picture has been image processed to correct for the curvature of the disk of Jupiter, so that the spot appears flat, as if the viewer were hovering directly overhead.
The large feature was created by the impact of comet fragment "G" which impacted Jupiter on July 18, 1994. The smaller feature to the left was created on July 17, by the impact of comet fragment "D". (More at Hubble Site)
"Bruised" Jupiter as Seen on Last Day of Comet Impacts
A natural color NASA Hubble Space Telescope view of the full disk of the giant planet Jupiter shows numerous comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact sites as seen on July 22, 1994. (More at Hubble Site)
Hubble Shows Evolution of Ejecta from the "A" Comet Impact Site
This series of images, which spans more than five days beginning at 5:33 p.m. EDT on July 16, 1994, was obtained with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera-2 using the methane filter that reveals details in Jupiter's higher atmosphere. These images show the development of the ejecta from site A, formed by the impact of the first fragment of comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9. (More at Hubble Site)
Hubble Uncovers a Hidden Quasar in a Nearby Galaxy (Cygnus A)
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have found, to their surprise, that a relatively nearby galaxy harbors a powerful quasar. This active galaxy, known as Cygnus A, is the second strongest radio source in the sky. (More at Hubble Site)
Evolution of the P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 "Gang of Four" Region
This series of eight NASA Hubble Space Telescope "snapshots" shows the evolution of the P-Q complex, also called the "gang of four" region, of comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9.
The eight individual frames chronicle changes in the comet during the 12 months before colliding with Jupiter. The sequence shows that the relative separations of the various cometary fragments, thought to range in size from about 500 meters to almost 4 km (2.5 miles) across, changed dramatically over this period. The apparent separation of Q1 and Q2 was only about 1100 kilometers (680 miles) on 1 July 1993 and increased to 28,000 kilometers (17,400 miles) by 20 July 1994. (More at Hubble Site)
