Since its launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has redefined our understanding of the universe. Hubble has allowed us to look further into the universe with unsurpassed clarity, to reveal sights of breathtaking beauty and unimaginable scale.
A Brief History of Hubble
As a joint initiative between the United States (NASA) and Europe (ESA), the Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 on the space shuttle. Its ability to provide stunning insight into the universe around us stems from its location outside of earths atmosphere. The omission of the distorting effects of air and pollution allow Hubble to produce images of superb quality.
Hubble weighs a mere 11kgs and is just over 13 meters long but has taken more than 500,000 images since its launch.
Understanding the Pictures
For the man in the street, the scope and scale of the universe is difficult to comprehend. The images that Hubble has produced are unmistakably beautiful but when coupled with an idea of scale they truly become awe inspiring.
Size and distance in the universe is measured in light-years or the distance that light can travel in one year. Consider for a moment, the fact that the distance from the earth to the sun is about 150 million kilometers, and light travels that distance in a mere 8 minutes. The actual length of a light year is 9.4 X 1012 m or 94 with 12 zeros after it.
With this simple understanding of scale, I invite you to consider my top 5 choice of amazing Hubble Space Telescope pictures.
The Evil Eye
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About 19 million light years away the spectacular Black Eye Galaxy or Evil Eye Galaxy, as it is sometime named, spins in infinity.
This image was taken in 2001 and shows a single galaxy rotating in two directions. It is thought that the Black Eye Galaxy was formed more than a billion years ago when a larger galaxy absorbed its smaller neighbor into the twisting, hurricane like formation we see here.
Almost 40,000 light years in diameter and spinning at 300 kilometers every single second the inner core and outer rim rotate in opposite direction. Stars form from the thunderous pressure and heat where these opposing forces meet.
Bad Weather in the Neighborhood
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The Hubble Space Telescope does not just gaze into the far off heavens looking into distant galaxies. The study of weather patterns on Mars and Venus help us understand our own weather systems.
This composite of two pictures taken by Hubble show clouds of sulphur dioxide and torrential rains of pure sulphuric acid in Venus (RHS) while dust storms rage on Mars (LHS).
The Forest for the Trees
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This image shows the 280,000 light year long tail of the Tadpole galaxy, 420 Million light years away from earth.
However the devil is in the details as the Tadpole Galaxy is set against a backdrop of thousands of other galaxies in this area of the universe.
Each of the smears in the background comprises another immense galaxy of stars to provide some idea of the scale of the universe we call home.
A Glorious Death
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At the center of this image is a single star in its last throes of life. Similar in size a nature to our own Sun, this star has turned into a white dwarf as it throws of outer layers of gas and illuminates it with its last glows of ultra violet light.
In about 5 billion years our sun will go through the same process and it too shall turn into white dwarf.
Taken in 2007, this image of a dying star almost 4000 light years from earth remains a haunting reminder that all that has a beginning has an end.
The Birthplace of Stars
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One of the most widely recognized images from the Hubble Space Telescope, this fantastic photograph shows one of the so called "Pillars of Creation" in the distant Eagle Nebula. A nursery for stars this picture of a portion of the massive Eagle Nebula provides us with a glimpse into the birth of a star.
Occurring over 6,500 light years away from Earth the star emerges from immense pockets of gas almost 90 trillion kilometers high. As these stars emerge they are nearly 100,000 times brighter than our sun and burn at 50,000oC.
The vivid colors captured in the photograph are emitted from ultraviolet light energizing the vast gas clouds. The pale blue coloring at the top of the pillar is enormous amounts of oxygen while the majority of the pillars' reddish hue is derived from its majority hydrogen content.
The darker portions of the tower are of unimaginable amounts of carbon and silicon forming huge dust clouds.
Credit and Thanks to NASA, STScl and the Hubble Heritage team for providing open access to these images.
