Astronomy and Stars
Discussions about astronomy and stars. As we look further out what can we find in the universe beyond Earth's atmosphere?
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The refurbished HST has provided this outstanding image of the nuclear region of the galaxy NGC 1068. NGC 1068 is located at a distance of approximately 60 Million Light Years and is the prototype of a class of galaxies, known as Seyfert Type 2. View the full article
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In one of the deepest celestial surveys yet made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a small group of previously unknown, interacting galaxies estimated to be three billion light-years away. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided the most detailed look yet at the comet hurtling toward a July 1994 collision with the giant planet Jupiter. Hubble's high resolution shows that the approximately 20 objects that comprise comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 – giving it the resemblance of a "string of pearls" – are much smaller than originally estimated from observations with ground-based telescopes. According to Dr. Harold Weaver of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) Baltimore, MD, the Hubble observations show that the cometary nuclei are probably no bigger than three miles across, as opposed to earlier estimates of nine miles. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has given astronomers their earliest look at a rapidly ballooning bubble of gas blasted off a star. The shell surrounds Nova Cygni 1992, which erupted February 19, 1992. A nova is a thermonuclear explosion that occurs on the surface of a white dwarf star in a double star system. Nova Cygni 1992 was one of the brightest novae in 20 years, reaching naked-eye visibility for a brief period. View the full article
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The Green (V band) image (left) shows the field around the quasar 3c 273 (courtesy Matthew Colless, David Schade and the CFHT). The optical jet can be seen southwest of the quasar. The blue (B band) image (right) shows the optical jet as seen by the Faint Object Camera (FOC) on board the Hubble Space Telescope. For comparison, the 11X11 arcsec FOC field of view is marked on the ground based CFHT image. The insert (right) is a Maximum Entropy reconstruction of the FOC image. This FOC image is derived from three linearly polarized images which show that the brightest knots are highly polarized (20%-50%). A letter which describes these data appears in the 9 September 1993 is…
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This is a comparison of pictures of the core of the globular cluster NGC 6624, as imaged with the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. This comparison image demonstrates that Hubble's high resolution and ultraviolet sensitivity allow astronomers to pick out the faint blue counterpart to an X-ray burster buried in the globular cluster. (An X-ray burster is a class of unusual double star that is a source of violent bursts of X-rays.) HST clearly distinguishes the star from others crammed together in the dense core of the cluster. View the full article
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A team of astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a "double nucleus" in the center of the neighboring spiral galaxy M31, located in the constellation Andromeda. View the full article
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A team of astronomers reports that recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the nearest Seyfert galaxy, NGC 4395, further support the theory that active galaxies are fueled by a massive black hole at the center. The researchers say the HST results rule out vigorous star formation as the alternative explanation for the mysterious power source behind quasars and extremely bright galactic nuclei. View the full article
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After NASA Hubble Space Telescope's refurbishment to correct spherical aberration, its resolution for imaging stars is expected to increase by a factor of 10-15 over ground-based, and a factor of 2-3 over the pre-reburbished Hubble. The expected improvement in resolution is demonstrated by comparing a Hubble WFPC2 Thermal Vacuum globular cluster-mask (right panel) to a simulated view of the same globular cluster as viewed with Hubble's WFPC1 (left panel). View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has provided astronomers with their clearest look yet at a vast cloud of gas being heated by the birth of a new star. Called Herbig-Haro object #2 (HH-2), the cloud is heated by shock waves from jets of high speed gas being ejected from a newborn star. Because the star itself is embedded in a dusty cocoon, HH-2 provides the only visible clues to physical processes occurring in the young star. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has discovered a new population of stars isolated deep in the core of M15, one of the densest globular star clusters. The stars are among the hottest stars observed in the core of a globular cluster. The most likely explanation for their existence is that they are the "naked cores" of stars that have been stripped of their outer envelope of gas, according to astronomers. View the full article
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A NASA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) view of the core of the barred spiral Seyfert galaxy NGC 5728 reveals a spectacular bi-conical beam of light that is ionizing the gas in the central region of the galaxy. View the full article
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A team of astronomers working with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope announced results today of a major step in the Key Project to measure the Hubble Constant and the age of the universe. The team has discovered variable stars in its first target, the spiral galaxy M81, and measured the distance of the galaxy to be 11 million light-years (3.4 megaparsecs). They quote a 10% uncertainty in this result (plus or minus approximately one million light-years). Previous estimates of the galaxy's distance have ranged from 4.5 to 18 million light-years (1.4 to 5.6 megaparsecs). View the full article
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In an unprecedented effort to better the conditions and opportunities for women in astronomy, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is issuing and promoting a manifesto, entitled the Baltimore Charter. View the full article
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A NASA Hubble Telescope (HST) image of NGC 1741, a pair of colliding galaxies undergoing a burst star formation as a result of a collision. View the full article
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Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland report that their ambitious program to make a digitized survey of the entire sky available to astronomers around the world will debut by the end of this year. At that time, STScI plans to have the survey of the southern sky digitally compressed and stored on a set of 60 CD-ROMs (compact disk read-only memory) which is a widely used computer media. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has discovered a new population of exceptionally bright and young star clusters at the heart of a head-on collision between two galaxies. The orbiting telescope also discovered a rotating, pinwheel-shaped disk at the center of the collision. In the Hubble photo, the disk resembles a full spiral galaxy, seen face on. Yet the disk is only ten thousand light-years across, about 1/20 the diameter of the whole galaxy. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has provided astronomers with their clearest look yet at a vast cloud of gas being heated by the birth of a new star. Called Herbig-Haro object #2 (HH-2), the cloud is heated by shock waves from jets of high speed gas being ejected from a newborn star. Because the star itself is embedded in a dusty cocoon, HH-2 provides the only visible clues to physical processes occurring in the young star. View the full article
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Citing "teamwork and dedication in the development of the world's largest star catalog to be used in pointing the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)", NASA has given its Public Service Group Achievement Award to The Guide Star Catalog Group at Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Dr. Barry Lasker, Chief of the Catalogs and Surveys Branch, accepted this award on behalf of the group in a ceremony at Goddard Space Flight Center on March 30. View the full article
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Dr. Riccardo Giacconi, former Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), has been awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for his outstanding leadership in development of the STScI. The medal is awarded annually to individuals whose distinguished accomplishments contributed significantly to the NASA mission. It is the highest honor that NASA confers on a non-government individual. View the full article
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The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has selected 15 new scientists for the Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The awardees were selected from a pool of 134 applications from highly-qualified candidates worldwide. View the full article
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Astronomers announced today the discovery of a double nucleus in the active galaxy Markarian 315. The discovery was made from images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The findings may solve a decade-old mystery about the nature of a jet-like feature in Markarian 315, a so-called Seyfert galaxy, and appear to confirm one mechanism for producing an active galactic nucleus. (Seyfert galaxies are spiral galaxies with very bright nuclei that may be powered by massive black holes that are accreting matter.) View the full article
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This is an image of a small portion of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant, taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on April 24, 1991. The Cygnus Loop marks the edge of a bubble-like, expanding blast wave from a colossal stellar explosion which occurred about 15,000 years ago. View the full article
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Astronomer Laura Danly of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has taken a major step in solving a 3 year old mystery by measuring, for the first time, the distance to a high-velocity cloud of cool hydrogen gas. The results show conclusively that the cloud, and presumably others like it, dwell in the "halo" of our Milky Way Galaxy, rather than being between galaxies or in our own stellar neighborhood. (The halo is a spherical region surrounding the spiral disk of our galaxy). View the full article
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This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope picture of a recently-formed "planetary nebula," known as Hen 1357. This expanding cloud of gas was ejected from the aging star in the center. Much of the gas is concentrated in a ring which appears tilted 35 degrees. Besides the big clumps in the ring, HST's detailed images reveal many smaller clumps and wisps of gas, indicating turbulent motions and other activity in the nebula. Two bubbles of gas seen above and below the ring have burst open at their ends, allowing gas from inside to escape. View the full article
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