Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Hubble’s Universe

Hitching a ride into orbit with the space shuttle Discovery in April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has taken incredibly clear and detailed images for almost twenty years. After some initial forestalling of the launch and eventual problems with one its mirrors, the Telescope has proven to be an invaluable aid for astronomers and is scheduled to be replaced in 2013 by the brand spanking new James Webb Space Telescope - named after James E. Webb, the second administrator of NASA.

Here are a few of Hubble’s greatest moments.


“Cat’s Eye” Nebula – three thousand light-years from Earth and over half a light-year across.


The Orion Nebula – only 1,500 light-years from Earth in an area where stars are formed.


“The Sombrero Galaxy”, named for obvious reasons.


V838 Mon – this image is often referred to as “Starry Night”.


“Cone” Nebula, within a star-forming region.


The “Eskimo” Nebula – some say this resembles a person’s head inside the hood of a parka, but it looks more like an iris to me.


NGC 2818 – this is what a dying star looks like.


by Max Drake
(Freelance writer and artist for GritFX.)

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk)

8 comments:

  1. Our universe is absolutly fantastic! I'm so curious about what could be there, somewhere between stars... We are far away from any important discovery yet and we can't talk about universe exploration in our times! Maybe after 300 years... Thanks for beautiful photos! N.A.S.A. should be proud of you! ;-)

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  2. Magical photos. Thanks for showing them. Jawdroppingly beautiful!

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  3. They should have sent a poet...stellar, pun intended.

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  4. Or a muse for us! For stellar poets! Lol! A muse called Stella.

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  5. The photo looks really scary but beautiful at the same time..

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  6. From one space nerd to another, Max - great post...

    Did you hear that Space Shuttle Atlantis is heading off to (try to) service/repair the Hubble in a week or so..? Bit of a last ditch effort to save Hubble before it's rendered useless by broken/malfunctioning parts...

    If it fails, Hubble will be an orbiting piece of space junk. Space junk worth $7billion, that is...

    Still, Hubble's legacy is already assured, as these images prove.

    Lets raise our glasses to Hubble...(no matter what the mission outcome)

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  7. What a stunning galaxy we have! One must have some respect for the beauty.

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  8. wow, those are amazing shots! The universe is truly a wonder!

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