Cloudy with a chance of new stars! 🌟

Named RCW 7, the nebula in this #hubblefriday view contains the gas and dust needed to form stars. Under the influence of gravity, parts of the nebula's clouds collapse until they coalesce into very young, developing stars – called protostars!

The protostars in RCW 7 are huge, giving off fierce stellar winds and radiation that are transforming the nebula into something called a H II region.

These regions are full of hydrogen ions. Ultraviolet radiation from the massive protostars excites the hydrogen in the nebula, causing it to emit light.

RCW 7 is located about 5,300 light-years away in the constellation Puppis.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Tan (Chalmers University & University of Virginia), R. Fedriani

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

Every day is #bestfriendsday for Hubble!

For over three decades, Hubble has collaborated with other missions to get a more complete understanding of our universe.

From collaborating with telescopes like NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to helping probes that explore our solar system, Hubble's unique vantage point above our atmosphere and ability to see in ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light have made it a valuable teammate to many missions.

This image shows the galaxy M82 with combined observations from Hubble (hydrogen emission and visible light), the Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared light), and Chandra X-ray Observatory (X-rays).

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, and JPL-Caltech

#nasa #hubble #science #space #galaxy #stars #astronomy

This galaxy really sets the bar high.

Called NGC 4731, this galaxy is home to a central "bar" structure, caused by the orbits of its stars and gas in the galaxy lining up to create a dense region.

About 60% of all galaxies are barred spiral galaxies, like the one in this #hubblefriday image. Spiral galaxies tend to form bars as they mature and grow older, which helps explain the large number of them we see in the universe today.

NGC 4731 is about 43 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker

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

Don't get spooked! 👻

The Ghost Head Nebula is a whopping 168,000 light-years away, after all.

This #hubbleclassic view highlights a hectic star-forming region. Two "eyes" of the ghost "head" shine bright white within the glowing yellow cavity: these are very hot, glowing blobs of hydrogen and oxygen.

Hubble's resolution helped astronomers detect the various features in this nebula in order to better understand the formation of massive stars in this interesting region.


Image credit: NASA, ESA & Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris, France)

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

Webb took a look at “starburst” galaxy NGC 4449, located 12.5 million light years away. Starbursts are intense periods of star formation usually concentrated at a galaxy’s core, but NGC 4449’s activity is much more widespread — likely due to past interactions with its galactic neighbors.

Observing in both near- and mid-infrared light, Webb reveals incredible detail. Individual stars are seen as bright blue spots. The diffuse blue gradient at the core shows the distribution of older stars, while young star clusters, glowing yellow, are concentrated at the edges. Orange-red areas indicate the distribution of carbon-based compounds; red corresponds to hydrogen-rich regions.

Astronomers can study NGC 4449 to peek into the past. This galaxy is similar to early star-forming galaxies, which also grew by merging with other systems.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team
#universe #nasa #jwst #webb #telescope