This nebula’s weather forecast? 200,000 degrees Celsius! 🔥

That’s the surface temperature of the dying star at the center of this nebula. It’s shedding outer layers of material, creating this beautiful and complex structure known as NGC 2440.

This #hubbleclassic view is 4,000 light-years away.

#nasa #hubble #classic #astronomy #nebula #space #science #telescope #universe

A cosmic treasure trove! 🤩

This #hubblefriday contains lots of astronomical marvels: the hazy galaxy UGC 7983, more distant galaxies, and even an asteroid.

Seen as four streaks of separated light on the upper left (due to four separate exposures taken by Hubble), this asteroid is located within our solar system.

#nasa #hubble #friday #galaxy #space #stars #science #asteroid #cosmos #universe

Galaxies galore!

This #hubbleclassic image shows Abell 1689, which is one of the most massive clusters of galaxies known to exist.

Abell 1689 is made up of so much matter that it bends and warps the light traveling to us from objects located behind the galaxy cluster. This is called gravitational lensing, and it causes the warped shape of some of the background galaxies seen here. Some of the faintest objects in this image are likely over 13 billion light-years away!

This cluster of galaxies is located over two billion light-years away in the constellation Virgo.

#nasa #hubble #classic #space #galaxy #science #astronomy #cosmos #universe

Ever wonder what Hubble saw on your birthday?

Here’s what Hubble captured #otd in 2000 – the galaxy NGC 4013, seen edge-on from 55 million light-years away!

#nasa #hubble #onthisday #history #galaxy #space #birthday #science #universe

Have a stellar #hubblefriday!

This week's image shows the bright star V 372 Orionis, along with a smaller companion star in the upper left.

Both stars call the Orion Nebula home – which is a massive region of starbirth about 1,450 light-years away from Earth.

V 372 is known as an Orion Variable star. These young stars experience tempestuous behavior as they grow, seen as irregular changes in luminosity.

#nasa #hubble #friday #stars #space #science #universe #astronomy #cosmos

The cosmic ocean 🌊

This #hubbleclassic image shows a sea of glowing hydrogen gas, along with small amounts of other elements such as oxygen and sulfur.

The "waves" of gas have been sculpted and illuminated by a torrent of ultraviolet radiation from young, massive stars, which are outside the picture to the upper left.

Known as M17 (or the Swan or Omega Nebula), this starforming region resides about 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.

#nasa #hubble #classic #space #nebula #stars #science #astronomy #universe

With Hubble, astronomers measured the mass of a single, isolated white dwarf – which is the surviving core of a burned-out star.

The white dwarf, called LAWD 37, is 56% the mass of our Sun.

Astronomers were able to determine this using “gravitational microlensing” – when the gravity of a foreground object warps the light coming from an object behind it.

The light from a background star was slightly deflected by the gravitational warping of space by LAWD 37. As the white dwarf passed in front of the background star, microlensing caused the star to appear temporarily offset from its actual position on the sky.

These Hubble observations took place over the course of many years, and since the light from the background star was so faint, the main challenge for astronomers was extracting its image from the glare of LAWD 37, which is 400 times brighter than the background star. Only Hubble can make these kinds of high-contrast observations in visible light.

#nasa #hubble #news #space #stars #science #astronomy #universe #cosmos #telescope

Happy #groundhogday!

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning... and from up in space, Hubble can see shadows too!

This image shows three of Jupiter’s dozens of moons – and two of their shadows – moving across the planet in 2015. The three moons are called Callisto, Europa, and Io and each is special in its own way.

Europa (farthest to the left) is one of the most promising places in our solar system to find present-day environments suitable for some form of life beyond Earth. The second moon from the left is called Callisto and is the gas giant’s second largest moon. Europa's shadow is toward the left side of the image and Callisto's shadow to the right.

Last but not least, in the upper right is Io, the most volcanically active world in the solar system.

#nasa #hubble #groundhog #jupiter #winter #spring #moon #planet #space #universe

Welcome to a "star factory"!

This #hubblefriday view shows the Tarantula Nebula, the brightest region of starbirth in our galactic neighborhood.

It's home to the hottest, most massive stars known, making it an ideal natural laboratory in which to test out theories of star formation and evolution, and Hubble has a rich variety of images of this region!

At a distance of about 161,000 light-years, it belongs to the Large Magellanic Cloud – a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way.

#nasa #hubble #space #stars #nebula #science #astronomy #telescope #universe