Category Archives: Hubble Telescope

Illuminate the universe and you'll see more beauty than you could ever imagine.

That's exactly what a cosmic phenomenon, called a light echo, does.

This Hubble image to the right was taken in February, 2004 and is a consequence of the revealing power of the light echo.

This isn't just a pretty image, though. It's one of many that the Hubble has caught that actually teaches us something new about how our universe works.

We think it's one of the most stunning scientific images we've seen from the telescope because astronomers had to wait nearly two years for it.

That's because before 2002, the only thing we could see in this region was a supergiant star.

But in January 2002, the star, located 20,000 light years from Earth, gave off a blindingly bright pulse of light.

For the brief period of time the pulse lasted, the star was the most luminous star in our galaxy, shining at 600,000 times brighter than our sun.

The star eventually faded, but the light it emitted continued to travel outward, illuminating the star's surrounding nebula, as shown in the animation below.

Our Universe VisualizedAnimation of a light echo in action.

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Astronomers Caught This Amazing Stellar Pulse With The Hubble Telescope

The Hubble Telescope Operator
The Hubble Telescope Operator Paul Stephanus Bard Paul Stephanus Released on: 2014-07-23 Auto-generated by YouTube.

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The Hubble Telescope Operator - Video

Images captured by the Hubble Telescope of the vast debris systems surrounding nearby stars. Credit: NASA/ESA/ G. Schneider (University of Arizona), and the HST/GO 12228 Team

Using NASAs Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have completed the largest and most sensitive visible-light imaging survey of the debris disks surrounding nearby stars. These dusty disks, likely created by collisions between leftover objects from planet formation, were imaged around stars as young as 10 million years old and as mature as more than 1 billion years old.

The research was conducted by astronomers from NASAs Goddard Space Center with the help of the University of Arizonas Steward Observatory. The survey was led by Glenn Schneider, the results of which appeared in the Oct. 1, 2014, issue of The Astronomical Journal.

We find that the systems are not simply flat with uniform surfaces, Schneider said. These are actually pretty complicated three-dimensional debris systems, often with embedded smaller structures. Some of the substructures could be signposts of unseen planets.

In addition to learning much about the debris fields that surround neighboring stars, the study presented an opportunity to learn more about the formation of our own Solar System.

Its like looking back in time to see the kinds of destructive events that once routinely happened in our solar system after the planets formed, said Schneider.

Once thought to be flat disks, the study revealed an unexpected diversity and complexity of dusty debris structures surrounding the observed stars. This strongly suggest they are being gravitationally affected by unseen planets orbiting the star.

Alternatively, these effects could result from the stars passing through interstellar space. In addition, the researchers discovered that no two disks of material surrounding stars were alike.

A circumstellar disk of debris around a matured stellar system may indicate that Earth-like planets lie within. Credit: NASA/JPL

The astronomers used Hubbles Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph to study 10 previously discovered circumstellar debris systems, plus MP Mus, a mature protoplanetary disk that is comparable in age to the youngest of the debris disks.

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Its Complicated: Hubble Survey Finds Unexpected Diversity in Dusty Discs Around Nearby Stars

Best 100 Hubble images of cosmos
The Hubble Telescope has been active for nearly a quarter of a century. Explore the universe through Hubble #39;s eye, and witness the most dangerous, spectacula...

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Best 100 Hubble images of cosmos - Video

It appears that spooky goings-on over the Halloween period are not just confined to Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope has made its own ghostly discovery by capturing the ghost light from dead galaxies ripped apart billions of years ago.

The ghost light comes from stars that were ejected from ancient galaxies ripped apart by gravity. These orphaned stars are no longer attached to any one galaxy, and instead wander between nearby galaxies.

But dont worry, they wont be wandering over here any time soon. This epic galaxy death happened over four billion light years away in a large group of galaxies known as the Pandora cluster, or Abel 2744.

Hubble astronomers have turned detective and used the ground-breaking images to deduce the dead galaxies last movements. Their evidence suggests that as many as six galaxies were torn apart over a time period of six billion years.

These galaxies were probably about the same size as our own Milky Way. Such smaller galaxies would have had no chance as they plunged through the centre of the galaxy cluster where gravitational tidal forces are at their strongest.

The source of the ghost light is actually coming from an estimated200 billion outcast stars. They make up about 10% of the total light being emitted by the Pandora cluster.

Measurements taken by Hubble show that these stars are rich inheavier elements like oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. Thats a tell-tale sign that these are second or third-generation stars which have been enriched by elements that were originally created at the heart of the universes first-generation stars.

This kind of on-going star formation is most commonly found in spiral galaxies, which is where we think these orphan stars originated.

Well for a start its impressive that we even spotted these stars.

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Hubble Telescope makes a 'ghostly' discovery billions of light years away

NASAs Hubble Space Telescope has detected a faint light, described as the ghostly glow of stars that were ejected from ancient galaxies, which themselves are believed to have been ripped apart by gravitational forces billions of years ago. The light is believed to emerge from inside a collection of about 500 galaxies known as Abell 2744, about four billion light-years away.

According to astronomers, the stars in this group of galaxies -- named Pandoras Cluster -- are scattered and their light has helped scientists gather evidence, suggesting that as many as six galaxies were torn to pieces inside the cluster over a period of six billion years. Astronomers expect the new findings to help them better understand the evolution of galaxy clusters.

The results are in good agreement with what has been predicted to happen inside massive galaxy clusters, Mireia Montes of The Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias (IAC), Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, and the lead author of the study published in the Astrophysical Journal earlier this month, said in a statement.

The astronomers estimate that the combined light of about 200 billion outcast stars contributes about 10 percent of the clusters brightness. According to data provided by Hubble, these stars have significant amounts of heavier elements, such as oxygen, carbon and nitrogen.The gravity in galaxy clusters deflects light passing through them, magnifying, brightening and distorting light in a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, which is used by astronomers to blow up the images of remote galaxies.

According to NASA, Abell 2744 is a target in the Frontier Fields program, a three-year-long mission that combines Hubble and NASAs other observatories to study massive galaxy clusters for answers to the universe.

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NASAs Hubble Telescope Spots Ghost Light From Dead Galaxies

October 31, 2014

Pandoras Cluster, which is also known as Abell 2744, is an immense grouping of nearly 500 galaxies, and the ghostly glow detected by Hubble was emitted by scattered stars that had been expelled from galaxies galaxies which themselves had been gravitationally torn apart several billion years ago, according to the US space agency.

[ Watch the Video: Abell 2744 Y1 Is The Most Distant Galaxy Discovered ]

The orphaned stars, which are located four billion light-years from Earth, are no longer bound to a single galaxy and drift freely from one to another in the cluster. By observing their light, Hubble astronomers have managed to gather forensic evidence suggesting that up to six galaxies were torn to pieces in the cluster over a period of six billion years. Their findings have been published in The Astrophysical Journal.

Computer modeling of the gravitational dynamics among galaxies in a cluster suggests that the stars originated from galaxies approximately the same size as the Milky Way. Those galaxies, the study authors explained, would have been pulled apart if they traveled through the center of the galaxy cluster, where the strongest gravitational tidal forces are found.

The Hubble data revealing the ghost light are important steps forward in understanding the evolution of galaxy clusters, research team member Ignacio Trujillo of the Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias (IAC), La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain said in a statement. It is also amazingly beautiful in that we found the telltale glow by utilizing Hubbles unique capabilities.

While astronomers have long hypothesized that they should be able to detect the light from scattered stars left behind after galaxies become disassembled, it was difficult to detect this anticipated intracluster glow of stars because of how faint it was. The researchers estimate that the combined light of approximately 200 billion outcast stars contributes nearly one-tenth of the clusters brightness.

Because these extremely faint stars are brightest at near-infrared wavelengths of light, the team emphasized that this type of observation could only be accomplished with Hubbles infrared sensitivity to extraordinarily dim light, NASA explained. Hubble measurements determined that the phantom stars are rich in heavier elements like oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. This means the scattered stars must be second or third-generation stars enriched with the elements forged in the hearts of the universes first-generation stars.

Spiral galaxies like the ones believed to be torn apart can sustain ongoing star formation that creates chemically-enriched stars, the US space agency added. Weighing more than 4 trillion solar masses, Abell 2744 is a target in the Frontier Fields program. This ambitious three-year effort teams Hubble and NASAs other Great Observatories to look at select massive galaxy clusters to help astronomers probe the remote universe.

Galaxy clusters are so massive that their gravity deflects light that passes through them. As a result, that light becomes brighter, magnified and distorted due to what is known as gravitational lensing. This phenomenon is exploited by astronomers, who use these clusters like a zoom lens to get a better look at distant galaxies that would otherwise be too faint for even telescopes as powerful as Hubble to detect.

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Ghost Light From Distant Dead Galaxies Detected By Hubble Telescope

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Recently, while observing changes in Jupiter's most famous atmospheric cyclone, the swirling Great Red Spot, Hubble found itself caught in the eye of the storm, so to speak.

As the telescope honed in on Jupiter's red spot, one of the planet's 69 moons, Ganymede, passed between Jupiter and the sun, casting a perfectly round shadow.

For a brief moment, the moon's shadow intersected the Great Red Spot -- adding a pupil to Jupiter's iconic storm. The Hubble Space Telescope found itself in a staring contest.

"For a moment, Jupiter 'stared' back at Hubble like a one-eyed giant Cyclops," officials at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center wrote in a caption for the newly captured image.

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Hubble telescope caught in staring contest with Jupiter

Jupiter's "Cyclops" eye.Nasa/ESA/A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center)

Jupiter has been spotted "looking back" at us through a huge Cyclops eye by Nasa's Hubble Telescope.

The 10,000 mile-diameter "eye" was spotted while Hubble was monitoring changes to the planet's Great Red Spot storm that took place in April.

At this time, Jupiter's Ganymede moon moved across the storm, casting a shadow across the area, which made the Great Red Spot look like a giant eye looking back at Earth.

The eye was the result of a shadow passing over the storm(Nasa/ESA/A. Simon Goddard Space Flight Center)

"This gave the giant planet the uncanny appearance of having a pupil in the centre of a 10,000 mile-diameter 'eye'," Nasa said. "For a moment, Jupiter 'stared' back at Hubble like a one-eyed giant Cyclops."

The Great Red Spot is a persistent anticyclonic storm first discovered in 1665 by Gian Domenico Cassini.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot has been shrinking since the 1930s(Nasa/ESA)

Earlier this year, Nasa announced it has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured,with the spot measuring just 10,250 miles across.

Astronomers said the spot has been getting smaller since the 1930s. Amy Simon of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre, said: "It is apparent very small eddies are feeding into the storm.We hypothesised these may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot."

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Nasa's Hubble Spots Jupiter Staring Back at us Through 'Cyclops Eye'

I Am a Star
Art rock composition by Agenda. Hubble Telescope photos and original images by Victor Go have been used in this video collage. Agenda: Victor Go - vocal, gui...

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I Am a Star - Video