May 31, 2016

California Nebula and Pleiades

California Nebula and Pleiades

Known since ancient times as the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades Cluster (right of image) consists of around a thousand stars that formed together about 100m years ago. The glowing cloud of hydrogen gas to the left of the image is the California Nebula.

Image Credit & Copyright: Bernal Andreo
Explanation by: Royal Observatory Greenwich

The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293)

The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293)

Resembling a giant eye looking across 700 light years of space, the Helix Nebula is one of the closest planetary nebula to Earth.

Image Credit & Copyright: David Fitz-Henry
Explanation by: Royal Observatory Greenwich

Star-Forming Region NGC 3603

Star-Forming Region NGC 3603

The cluster is surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust—the raw material for new star formation. The nebula, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina, contains a central cluster of huge, hot stars, called NGC 3603.

This environment is not as peaceful as it looks. Ultraviolet radiation and violent stellar winds have blown out an enormous cavity in the gas and dust enveloping the cluster, providing an unobstructed view of the cluster.

Most of the stars in the cluster were born around the same time but differ in size, mass, temperature, and colour. The course of a star's life is determined by its mass, so a cluster of a given age will contain stars in various stages of their lives, giving an opportunity for detailed analyses of stellar life cycles. NGC 3603 also contains some of the most massive stars known. These huge stars live fast and die young, burning through their hydrogen fuel quickly and ultimately ending their lives in supernova explosions.

Star clusters like NGC 3603 provide important clues to understanding the origin of massive star formation in the early, distant Universe. Astronomers also use massive clusters to study distant starbursts that occur when galaxies collide, igniting a flurry of star formation. The proximity of NGC 3603 makes it an excellent lab for studying such distant and momentous events.

This Hubble Space Telescope image was captured in August 2009 and December 2009 with the Wide Field Camera 3 in both visible and infrared light, which trace the glow of sulfur, hydrogen, and iron.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), F. Paresce (National Institute for Astrophysics, Bologna, Italy), E. Young (Universities Space Research Association/Ames Research Center), the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Explanation from: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo1022a/

May 30, 2016

Optical Image of the Tarantula Nebula

Optical Image of the Tarantula Nebula

This Hubble image shows a cosmic creepy-crawly known as the Tarantula Nebula in visible light. This region is full of star clusters, glowing gas, and thick dark dust.

Created using observations taken as part of the Hubble Tarantula Treasury Project (HTTP), this image was snapped using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The Hubble Tarantula Treasury Project (HTTP) is scanning and imaging many of the many millions of stars within the Tarantula, mapping out the locations and properties of the nebula's stellar inhabitants. These observations will help astronomers to piece together an understanding of the nebula's skeleton, viewing its starry structure.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, E. Sabbi (STScI)
Explanation from: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1402b/

May 29, 2016

Artist's Impression of the surroundings of the Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 3783

Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 3783

This artist’s impression shows the surroundings of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the active galaxy NGC 3783 in the southern constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). New observations using the Very Large Telescope Interferometer at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile have revealed not only the torus of hot dust around the black hole but also a wind of cool material in the polar regions.

Image Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Explanation from: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1327a/