Fwd: 10 amazing finds by the Hubble Space Telescope

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: March 20, 2016 at 4:22:25 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: 10 amazing finds by the Hubble Space Telescope

 

10 amazing finds by the Hubble Space Telescope

In its third decade, Hubble Space Telescope is showing no signs of slowing down.

By Will Creighton   |   March 18, 2016 at 2:39 PM

 

| License Photo

Hubble turns 26 on April 24, 2016, approaching three decades of unveiling incredible mysteries in the universe. The James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's successor, is scheduled to launch in 2018, but Hubble could last beyond 2030.

Until then, here's a look at some of the discoveries Hubble has made:

All images courtesy NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Biggest stars in the universe

An ultraviolet survey made possible thanks to an upgrade by the Shuttle Atlantis crew in May 2009 has provided astronomers an opportunity to study star cluster R136. It's in the Tarantula Nebula within the Large Magellanic Cloud about 170,000 light years from Earth. Relatively small but home to dozens of massive stars – including the most massive star ever found – Hubble imagery has revealed nine stars in the cluster that are more than 100 times bigger than our sun. Four of them are at least 150 times the sun's mass.

 

A Horsehead of a different color

First discovered by Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming in 1888, this view of the Horsehead Nebula was captured by Hubble 125 years later. Fleming developed a classification system for stars based on the amount of hydrogen in their composition. This method was later expanded upon by American astronomer Annie Jump Cannon who separated the stars into spectral classes O, B, A, F, G, K, M. She developed a mnemonic, "Oh Be a Fine Girl, Kiss Me" as a way to remember the classifications.

 

Origins of the Magellanic Stream

Astronomers have long pondered the origins of this long ribbon of gas that stretches halfway around the Milky Way galaxy. Hubble delivered the answer in 2015, showing that two dwarf galaxies – the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds – orbiting the Milky Way are the source of this gaseous stream.

 

A stellar fingerprint

IRAS 12196-6300, a star just under 10 million years old, is still in its infancy. Unlike the sun, it's not yet burning hydrogen at its core. Further evidence of its youth is seen by the presence of reflection nebulae, the hazy clouds seen floating above and below it, which are created when light from a star reflects off a high concentration of nearby dust.

 

A galactic mega-merger

What do you get when you take two reasonable-sized galaxies and slam them together? You get a giant elliptical galaxy like NGC 3597, which is in the constellation of Crater (The Cup) about 150 million light-years away from Earth.

 

The veiled remains of the star

The remnants of a supernova, the Veil Nebula exploded roughly 8,000 years ago. The nebula stretches 110 light-years across approximately 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus – the Swan.

 

A stellar nursery

The Monkey Head Nebula is a cluster of young stars embedded in bright wisps of cosmic gas and dust within the constellation Orion (the Hunter) 6,400 light-years from Earth.

 

Barreling toward the Milky Way

When the Smith Cloud began its remarkable journey toward us 70 million years ago, no one was around to notice it. Astronomers expect the cloud to collide with the Milky Way some 30 million years from now, birthing a mass of stars from enough gas to make 2 million.

 

A lonely galaxy, lost in space

Known as NGC 6503, this dwarf spiral galaxy sits all alone in a region of otherwise empty space known as the Local Void, which is about 150 million light-years across.

 

Spinning pinwheel

Hubble got a dramatic look at the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, which is made of bright stars and thick dust 15 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra, the Sea Serpent. If you know where to look and have a pair of binoculars, you can see it from Earth.

 

© 2016 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

 

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