Hubble watches the exploding star disappear

The Orion Nebula is 1,500 light-years from Earth and is located at Belt of Orion in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and on a clear, dark night it is visible to the naked eye. The nebula is the closest star-forming area on Earth.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched by the Discovery space probe on April 24, 1990.

Hubble has provided us with many images of our neighbor Mars. This image was taken in 2003 when Mars approached in nearly 60,000 years. As of August 27, 2003, the two worlds were only 34.6 million miles from center to center. Conversely, Mars could be around 249 million miles from Earth.

Hubble took the photo in 2007, when Ganymede looked like he was peeking out from below Jupiter. Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system and is even larger than Mercury.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of Saturn in 2004, a view so sharp that some of the planet’s smallest rings are visible.

The Hubble telescope observed the clouds over Uranus in this image taken in 1997. The image consists of three near infrared images. The planet’s rings are prominent in the near infrared region. Eight of the 27 months of Uranus can be seen in both images. Uranus is located approximately 1.75 billion miles from Earth.

The Hubble telescope captured this image of the distant blue-green world of Neptune in 2005. Fourteen different color filters were used to help scientists learn more about Neptune’s atmosphere. Neptune is approximately 2.8 billion miles from Earth.

Hubble discovered four of Pluto’s five months. In 2005: Nix and Hydra were found. Hubble discovered Kerberos in 2011 and Styx in 2012. The new discoveries joined Pluto’s large moon Charon, which was discovered in 1978. Scientists used Hubble to find possible hazards for the New Horizons spacecraft, which flew around Pluto in July 2015. Pluto is approximately 2.9 billion miles from Earth.

The iconic Horsehead Nebula is a popular destination for astronomers. Look closely and see what looks like a horse’s head climbing up to the stars. This Hubble image captures the nebula at infrared wavelengths. The nebula is 1,600 light years from Earth.

The Cat’s Eye Nebula is a cluster of bright gases launched into space by a dying star. This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows details of the structures, including high-speed gas flows and unusual gas knots. This color image consists of three images taken at different wavelengths. The nebula is estimated to be 1,000 years old. It is located approximately 3,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of the Dragon.

The Bug or Butterfly Nebula looks like a butterfly with spread wings in the galaxy. It is actually a rising cloud of gas that is emitted by a dying star. Scientists say the gas is more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit and is expanding into space at a rate of over 600,000 miles per hour. This image was taken using Hubble’s Widescreen Camera 3, a camera installed on Hubble during its May 2009 update by space shuttle astronauts. The nebula is located approximately 3,800 light years away in the constellation of Scorpio.

Astronomers combined several Hubble images taken in 2014 to create an improved view of Hubble’s iconic 1995 “Pillars of Creation”. The new image shows a wider view of the columns spanning approximately 5 light years. The pillars are part of a small area of ​​the Eagle Nebula, about 6,500 light years from Earth.

This huge nebula is located 7,500 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Carina. It is one of the largest and brightest nebulae and is a breeding ground for new stars. It also has several stars that are estimated to be at least 50 to 100 times the mass of our Sun, including Eta Carinae, one of the brightest stars known and one of the most massive stars in the Milky Way.

One of the closest neighbors to our Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, can be seen with the naked eye if you know where to look on a clear, dark night. In 2012, researchers using the Hubble data predicted that Andromeda would collide with the Milky Way in about four billion years. Andromeda is 2.5 million light years from Earth.

The cigarette galaxy is 12 million light years away. It takes its name from the shape: from the Earth it looks like an elongated elliptical disk.

It is called one of the most photogenic galaxies: the Sombrero Galaxy looks like a huge wide brim of a Mexican hat sitting among the stars. This can be seen with a small telescope. It is located approximately 28 million light years from Earth.

This group of galaxies is located approximately 290 million light years from Earth. It is named after its discoverer, the French astronomer Edouard Stephan, who first observed it in 1877.

Hubble captured this image of a group of interacting galaxies called Arp 273. The larger galaxy has a central disk that is distorted into a rose by pulling from a downward partner.

In 2004, astronomers unveiled the deepest portrait of the visible universe ever made. A million-second exposure called the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field shows that the first galaxies formed shortly after the Big Bang. The image shows an estimated 10,000 galaxies. In 2012, astronomers collected an innovative image called the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field. He combined 10 years of Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from the sky at the center of the original Hubble ultra-deep field. The new image contains approximately 5,500 galaxies.

This 2018 Hubble image shows the Lagoon Nebula, a chaotic nursery full of stars for children. In the center of this image, a young star emits ultraviolet radiation 200,000 times brighter than our sun.

Even the stars like to blow bubbles. This 2016 image shares Hubble’s vision of the Bubble Nebula, where a supermassive material star launches a huge bubble into space. The nebula has an average of 7 light years.

The conical nebula is a turbulent column of gas and dust that forms stars. It’s 7 light years, but this image taken by Hubble in 2002 shows the first 2.5 light years (equivalent to 23 million flights back to the moon). Ultraviolet radiation causes the hydrogen gas to emit a ghostly red glow.

This is a detailed look at part of a slowly expanding supernova or the remnants of an exploding star. Hubble took this photo in 2015 of the Veil Nebula 2,100 light years away. The star was once 20 times more massive than our sun, but only bits of gas are left.

In 2009, NASA’s Great Observatories, including Hubble, in combination with the Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, combined their power of observation to create this unprecedented composite image of the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Here you can see the infrared and X-ray light captured by the binoculars. Hubble’s contributions are yellow, Spitzer’s observations red and Chandra’s blue and purple.

Hubble also collaborated with Spitzer to create this stunning image of the Orion Nebula in 2006. The image combines visible, infrared and ultraviolet light. The community of material stars is represented by yellow in the center of the image.

Hubble captured this view of the expanding halo of light around the V838 star Monocerotis in 2004.

M83 is a near-spiral galaxy, and this 2014 Hubble image depicts its thousands of star clusters and supernova remnants. Young stars can be seen in the pink bubbles of hydrogen gas.

This infrared light image taken by Hubble in 2014 shows the Monkey Head Nebula, where a star is born 6,400 light-years away. Together, clouds of dust and glowing gas swirl here, which are the ingredients for star formation.

This observation of the giant star Eta Carinae in ultraviolet light was captured by Hubble in 2019. The star is the larger of the two orbiting it. It is known to have violent explosions, as the bubbles demonstrate.

Fireworks are even more beautiful in space. Hubble captured this image of a huge star cluster with 3,000 stars in 2015. It’s called Westerlund 2, which is 20,000 light-years from Earth.