BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Hubble Space Telescope - 27th birthday Aptil 2017

Here we have a massive cluster of galaxies that's been used as a gravitational lens to magnify a much more distant galaxy. Wow! The bright yellow galaxies in the center belong to the cluster. The image of the galaxy that's farther away has been bent by the 'lens' into three images, each only a small red dot.

This galaxy with the catchy name of 2MASX J16270254+4328340 has merged with another galaxy. What looks like a fine mist is actually millions of new stars.

Because of the gravitational disruption as the galaxies moved closer together, clouds of gas in the two them collapsed to form new stars. That would have been quite exciting, but most of the gas was used up then, so the new galaxy won't be producing new stars. The newly-formed stars will, like all stars, get redder with age, exhaust their fuel and die, without new ones to take their place.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA (Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla))

The Hubble Space Telescope people have posted "an unconventional interpretation of the Universe" by Heidy Colorless.

What do you think of it?

Here is the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Credit: NASA/ESA, Donald Walter (South Carolina State University), Paul Scowen and Brian Moore (Arizona State University)

Spiral galaxy NGC 7252 has an unusual nickname: Atoms for Peace Galaxy. US President Eisenhower in 1953 gave a speech advocating using nuclear power for peaceful purposes. This galaxy looks a bit like an atomic nucleus surrounded by electron orbits and so was given the nickname in honor of this speech.

In the Hubble image you can see a pinwheel-shaped central disc – it's rotating in a direction opposite to the rest of the galaxy. That's probably the remnant of a galaxy collision and will disappear when the merger of two galaxies is completed. Dust and stars were thrown out by the initial collision and they make up the outer structures that look like loops or a representation of electrons in an atom. They're quite faint in this picture

[Credit: NASA & ESA, Acknowledgements: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)]

A stunning Hubble picture of two galaxies merging.

Evidence that the two galaxies are disturbing each other is the bridge of stars and gas and dust that their mutual gravity has made. The face-on spiral (NGC 3808A) has lots of young blue stars, evidence of a burst of star formation. The edge-on spiral (NGC 3808B) is twisted, has bridging material wrapped around and a polar ring. The interacting pair is known as Arp 87. Arp galaxies are “peculiar” and as a pair, these two certainly don't fit into the neat categories of galaxies. (You can find out about these in What Is a Galaxy?

(Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope; Processing: Douglas Gardner)

Here is a mosaic of two Hubble images taken in 1997 and 1998. It's Centaurus A, also known as NGC 5128, an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Centaurus.

The blue light comes from hot newborn stars. The reddish-yellow color is due partly to hot gas, partly to older stars and partly to the scattering of blue light by dust. The latter is the same effect that produces bright orange sunsets on Earth.

Credit: E.J. Schreier, (STScI) and NASA/ESA

This may look like a craggy fantasy mountaintop enshrouded by wispy clouds but it's a stellar nursery 7500 light years away in the constellation Carina. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope photograph captures the chaotic activity atop a pillar of gas and dust, three light-years high, which is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being assaulted from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks.

The image from February 2010 marked the 20th anniversary of Hubble's launch and deployment into Earth orbit.

Credit: NASA, ESA and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

We wouldn't still be getting fantastic pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope if it weren't for the servicing missions on NASA's space shuttle. During Christmas Week in 1999, astronauts were busy replacing gyroscopes, which the telescope needs for controlling its orientation. Here Astronauts Steven L. Smith and John M. Grunsfeld are shown carrying out an EVA (extravehicular activity) on the telescope.

By the way, the final servicing mission has be documented in glorious IMAX 3D in the movie Hubble 3D.

Mona, thank you for sending the link to the Hubble Christmas cards. They are beautiful. All your links are incredible. As a kid I followed everything about space exploration and breaking the sound barriers, etc. I miss that excitement. You've brought it back. Thanks so much.

Have a star studded Christmas. Hugs.