In this article, I’ll showcase five breathtaking images captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope that are bound to leave you in awe.
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), launched by NASA in 1990, is a remarkable space telescope that operates in low Earth orbit and continues to function today. While it may not be the first space telescope ever created, it stands out as one of the largest and most versatile, known for its profound impact on astronomical research and its role in making astronomy accessible to the public.
As noted by NASA, the Hubble Space Telescope is a “large, space-based observatory that has revolutionized our understanding of the universe since its launch.”
In this article, I’ll showcase five breathtaking images captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope that are bound to leave you in awe.
1. The Butterfly Nebula
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This sharp image of a dying star’s nebula was captured in 2009 by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. It shows a bright area of ionized gas. A dust ring surrounding the central star is visible. The ring appears almost edge-on in the image.
2. DEM L 190
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The Hubble Space Telescope took this stunning image of the colorful supernova remnant DEM L 190. The intricate filaments and delicate sheets are remnants of a massive star that exploded in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. According to NASA, DEM L 190 (also known as LMC N49) is the brightest supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud, situated about 160,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Dorado.
3. Mystic Mountain
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This image from the Hubble Space Telescope showcases the turbulent activity at the top of a three-light-year-high pillar of gas and dust, which is being eroded by the intense light from nearby bright stars. The colors in this composite image represent the glow of oxygen (blue), hydrogen and nitrogen (green), and sulfur (red).
4. Ant Nebula
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From ground-based telescopes, the "ant nebula" (Menzel 3, or Mz 3) resembles the head and thorax of a common ant. However, this stunning image from the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows ten times more detail, reveals the "ant's" body as two fiery lobes emanating from a dying, Sun-like star. The Hubble image challenges previous notions about the final stages of a star's life.
5. Hourglass Nebula
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This image shows MyCn18, a young planetary nebula located approximately 8,000 light-years away, captured by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble image reveals that MyCn18 has an hourglass shape with intricate “etchings” on its walls. The picture is a composite of three separate images taken in the light of ionized nitrogen (red), hydrogen (green), and doubly ionized oxygen (blue).
