The Big Bubble and some more treats from the Hubble Space Telescope.
On this day of April 24, the Hubble Space Telescope turned 26.
Monitored by the collaboration between NASA, European Space Agency, and Space Telescope Science Institute, it continues to be a vital tool for scientific exploration for astronomers. It also continues to amaze us with startling images from the deep space.
On this celebratory occasion, Hubble scientists have released a photograph of the NGC 7635, better known as the Bubble Nebula.
It was the first ever photograph of an entire nebula and it was created by stitching four images.
Let's have a look at the Hubble's Blue Bubble and some of the other wonders that the telescope has presented us with, over the years.
1. The Blue Bubble (NGC 7635)
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It's the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive central star BD+602522. Next door, though, lives a giant molecular cloud, visible to the right. At this place in space, an irresistible force meets an immovable object in an interesting way. The cloud is able to contain the expansion of the bubble gas, but gets blasted by the hot radiation from the bubble's central star. The radiation heats up dense regions of the molecular cloud causing it to glow. The Bubble Nebula, pictured above in scientifically mapped colors to bring up contrast, is about 10 light-years across and part of a much larger complex of stars and shells. The Bubble Nebula can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia). - ESA/Hubble and NASA
2. Red Rectangle (HD 44179)
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The star HD 44179 is surrounded by an extraordinary structure known as the Red Rectangle. It acquired its moniker because of its shape and its apparent color when seen in early images from Earth. This strikingly detailed Hubble image reveals how, when seen from space, the nebula, rather than being rectangular, is shaped like an X with additional complex structures of spaced lines of glowing gas, a little like the rungs of a ladder. - ESA/Hubble and NASA
3. Hubble finds misbehaving galaxy
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Despite its unassuming appearance, this spiral galaxy is a rarity. Spiral galaxies (like our own Milky Way) aren't known for radio emissions, but this one is alight with them. - ESA/Hubble and NASA
4. Two galaxies merging
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This image, taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the galaxy NGC 6052, located around 230 million light-years away in the constellation of Hercules. - ESA/Hubble and NASA
5. Home for old stars
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Lying around 20,000 light-years from us in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion), Terzan 1, pictured here, is one of about 150 globular clusters belonging to our galaxy, the Milky Way. - ESA/Hubble and NASA
6. Smoke ring for a halo
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Two stars shine through the centre of a ring of cascading dust in star system is named DI Cha. - ESA/Hubble and NASA
7. Little Gem Nebula
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This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. - ESA/Hubble and NASA
8. Veil Nebula supernova remnant
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago. - ESA/Hubble and NASA
