After Hours

Dynamic images from galaxies far far away with the Hubble Telescope

By // March 12, 2008, 2:00 AM PST

Image 1 of 30

  • Two Merging Galaxies. The Mice NGC 4676.

    These two galaxies are pulling each other apart.
    ©ACS Science & Engineering Team, NASA.

  • M1 Crab Nebula.

    This is the result of a supernova first seen in 1054AD.
    ©ACS Science & Engineering Team,NASA.

  • The Spiral Galaxy M100.

    This photo was captured with the Hubble's improved vision.
    ©ACS Science & Engineering Team, NASA.

  • Dust Band Around the Nucleus of "Black Eye Galaxy" M64.

    Located in the northern constellation Coma Berenices, M64 is roughly 17 million light-years from Earth.
    ©ACS Science & Engineering Team, NASA.

  • Three Moons Cast Shadows on Jupiter.

    Seeing three shadows on Jupiter happens only about once or twice a decade.
    ©NASA, ESA and E. Karkoschka(University of Arizona).

  • An Infrared View of Saturn.

    This view provides detailed information on the clouds and hazes in Saturn's atmosphere.
    ©Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona), and NASA

  • A Perfect Storm of Turbulent Gases in the Omega/Swan Nebula (M17).

    M17 is located about 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.
    ©NASA, ESA and J. Hester(ASU).

  • Eagle Nebula(M16)Pillar Detail: Portion of Top.

    Young white hot stars cause this Nebula to glow.
    ©NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team.

  • Oxygen-Rich Supernova Remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

    This is the image of the tattered debris of a star that exploded 3,000 years ago as a supernova.
    ©Jon A. Morse and NASA.

  • Star V838 Monocerotis.

    Light continues to echo three years after stellar outburst.
    ©NASA, ESA and H.E. Bond.

  • Papillon Nebula N159-5.

    This image shows the internal morphology of the butterfly-shaped HII region.
    ©M. Heydari-Malayeri (Paris Observatory) and NASA/ESA.

  • Hubble finds "Dorian Gray" Galaxy.

    This image if of a galaxy once thought to be a relatively young. New information indicates this may not be the case.
    ©NASA, ESA, and A. Aloisi (Space Telescope Science Institute and European Space Agency, Baltimore, Md.)

  • Galaxy cluster 1E 0657-556.

    Known as the "bullet cluster", this cluster was formed after the collision of two large clusters of galaxies, the most energetic event known in the universe since the Big Bang.
    ©X-ray: NASA/CXC/M.Markevitch et al.

  • Ultraviolet Image of Multiple Comet Impacts on Jupiter.

    Ultraviolet image of Jupiter taken by the Wide Field Camera of the Hubble Space Telescope.
    ©Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team.

  • Hubble's 15th Anniversary Images of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and Eagle Nebula.

    These images are so incredibly sharp, they could be enlarged to billboard size and still retain stunning details.
    ©[Whirlpool Galaxy] - NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) [Eagle Nebula] - NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

  • Saturn Aurora-January 24,2004.

    The ruby-colored lights that occasionally paint the sky over Saturn may, in fact, be a phenomenon unique within our solar system.
    ©NASA, ESA, J. Clarke (Boston University), and Z. Levay (STScI)

  • Distant Spiral Galaxy NGC 4603, Home to Variable Stars.

    This is the most distant galaxy in which a special class of pulsating stars called Cepheid variables have been found.
    ©Jeffrey Newman (Univ. of California at Berkeley) and NASA.

  • Ring of Hot Blue Stars Pinwheels Around Yellow Nucleus of Hoag's Object Galaxy.

    A nearly perfect ring of hot, blue stars pinwheels about the yellow nucleus of an unusual galaxy known as Hoag's Object.
    ©NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

  • The Slant on Saturn's Rings.

    Saturn's Rings in Ultraviolet Light.
    ©NASA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona).

  • Spiral Galaxy NGC 3370, Home to Supernova Seen in 1994.

    Recent observations taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys show intricate spiral arm structure spotted with hot areas of new star formation.
    ©NASA, The Hubble Heritage Team and A. Riess (STScI).

  • Out of This Whirl: the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and Companion Galaxy.

    The graceful, winding arms of the majestic spiral galaxy M51 (NGC 5194) appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space. They are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust.
    ©NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

  • Interacting Spiral Galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163.

    Strong tidal forces from NGC 2207 have distorted the shape of IC 2163, flinging out stars and gas into long streamers stretching out a hundred thousand light-years toward the right-hand edge of the image.
    ©NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI)

  • Galaxy Abell 1689's "Gravitational Lens" Magnifies Light of Distant Galaxies.

    To make this unprecedented image of the cosmos, Hubble peered straight through the center of one of the most massive galaxy clusters known, called Abell 1689.
    ©NASA, N. Benitez (JHU), T. Broadhurst (Racah Institute of Physics/The Hebrew University), H. Ford (JHU), M. Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), G. Illingworth (UCO/Lick Observatory), the ACS Science Team and ESA.

  • Rings and Moons Circling Uranus.

    This wider view of Uranus reveals the planet's faint rings and several of its satellites.
    ©NASA and Erich Karkoschka, University of Arizona

  • The Tadpole Galaxy: Distorted Victim of Cosmic Collision.

    The Tadpole resides about 420 million light-years away in the constellation Draco.
    ©NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA.

  • The Antennae Galaxies/NGC 4038-4039.

    During the course of the collision, billions of stars will be formed. The brightest and most compact of these star birth regions are called super star clusters.
    ©NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

  • Cone Nebula (NGC 2264): Star-Forming Pillar of Gas and Dust.

    Resembling a nightmarish beast rearing its head from a crimson sea, this monstrous object is actually an innocuous pillar of gas and dust.
    ©NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA.

  • Crab Nebula: a Dead Star Creates Celestial Havoc.

    The neutron star, which has the mass equivalent to the sun crammed into a rapidly spinning ball of neutrons twelve miles across, is the bright white dot in the center of the image.
    ©NASA, ESA, CXC, JPL-Caltech, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State Univ.), R. Gehrz (Univ. Minn.), and STScI

  • Hubble’s View of Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672.

    This NASA Hubble Space Telescope view of the nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672 unveils details in the galaxy's star-forming clouds and dark bands of interstellar dust.
    ©NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

  • An Eclectic Mix of Galaxies.

    The jumble of galaxies in this image, taken in September 2003, includes a yellow spiral whose arms have been stretched by a possible collision [lower right]; a young, blue galaxy [top] bursting with star birth; and several smaller, red galaxies.
    ©NASA, ESA, J. Blakeslee and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University)

Two Merging Galaxies. The Mice NGC 4676.

These two galaxies are pulling each other apart.
©ACS Science & Engineering Team, NASA.

Related Topics:

After Hours Innovation Hardware Tech & Work