Humanity has always held a fascination with space. As science advanced, we discovered that there was more that lies beyond Pluto and of the existence of such formations as Black Holes and Supernovas. Hubble has enabled us to take a more detailed and breathtaking view of galaxies and nebulae that has ever been possible. With spacecrafts such as Hubble, we are able to see what lies beyond our own galaxy and form more educated theories of how of galaxy came to exist. The currently accepted view is that innumerable galaxies compose one universe. Hubble is only beginning to show us the beauty of these foreign galaxies and how small our own galaxy is compared to the other galaxies in existence. This page includes four nebulae taken by the Hubble craft in various parts of the universe.
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What is it called?
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How far away is it in light-years?
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What constellation is it in?
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What is especially interesting about it?
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What does it look like? |
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H II Region and Reflection Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) | These structures is 160,000 light-years away. | Dorado | From N30B nebula, Henize S22 would " appear 250 times as bright as the planet Venus" from Earth (http://hubblesite.org). | ||
NGC 1300 | NGC 1300 lies 69 million light-years away from Earth. | NGC 1300 lies on the banks of the constellation Eridanus. | Additional galaxies may be viewed through the NGC 1300. Also, what appears to be the beginngin of a black hole can be seen in the center of the galaxy. This is the galaxy and constellation that contains the star known as Achernar. | ||
NGC 346, a cluster and nebulosity in the Small Magellanic Cloud. | SMC is 210,000 light-years away | Tucana | Nestled among other starburst regions with the small galaxy, the nebula NGC 346 alone contains more than 2,500 infant stars. The oldest population of stars is 4.5 billion years, roughly the age of our Sun. The younger population arose only 5 million years ago. | ||
NGC 1999, a reflection Nebula in Orion. | The distance to NGC 1999 is 1500 light-years. | Orion | To the left of this cloud is the young, bright star that is illuminating the nebula. This star is cataloged as V380 Orionis, and its white color is due to its high surface temperature of about 10,000 degrees Celsius (nearly twice that of our own Sun). Its mass isestimated to be 3.5 times that of the Sun. The star is so young that itis still surrounded by a cloud of material left over from its formation, here seen as the reflection nebula (http://hubblesite.org). |