NGC 4603 and the Expanding Universe
27.05.1999

NGC 4603, a galaxy with majestic spiral arms and intricate dust lanes, is 108 million light-years away. Its distance has been accurately measured by astronomers using one of the fundamental yardsticks of the extragalactic distance scale - pulsating variable stars known as Cepheids.

Star Forming Region Hubble V
25.12.2001

How did stars form in the early universe? Astronomers are gaining insight by studying NGC 6822, a nearby galaxy classified as irregular by modern standards but appearing more typical of galaxies billions of years ago. Inspection of NGC 6822 shows several bright star groups, including two dubbed Hubble-X and Hubble-V.

Inside The Elephant's Trunk
9.04.2005

In December of 2003, the world saw spectacular first images from the Spitzer Space Telescope, including this penetrating interior view of an otherwise opaque dark globule known as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. Seen...

Supernova 1987a Aftermath
21.06.1995

In 1987 a star in one of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies exploded. In 1994 the Hubble Space Telescope, in orbit around the earth, took a very detailed picture of the remnants of this explosion. This picture, above, showed unusual and unexpected rings, and astronomers are not sure how they formed.

Inside The Elephant s Trunk
19.12.2003

Spectacular first images from the newly christened Spitzer Space Telescope include this penetrating interior view of an otherwise opaque dark globule known as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. Seen in a composite of infrared...

Earth, Moon, Hubble
5.01.2000

The Space Shuttle Discovery Crew was fortunate enough to witness one of the brighter full moon's from orbit two weeks ago during their mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope. Pictured...

Lunar Module at Taurus Littrow
28.06.2002

Can the Hubble Space Telescope take a picture that shows the Apollo lunar modules on the Moon? With its 2.4 meter diameter mirror, the smallest object that the Hubble can resolve at the Moon's distance of around 400,000 kilometers is about 80 meters across.

Bright Spiral Galaxy M81 from Hubble
29.05.2007

The Hubble Space Telescope has resolved individual stars in a spectacular new image of nearby spiral galaxy M81. The feat is similar to Edwin Hubble's historic images with the Mt. Wilson 100-inch Hooker Telescope in the 1920s that resolved stars in neighboring galaxy M31.

A Deep Field In The Southern Sky
29.06.2002

This deep view of the cosmos is the sequel to the 1995 hit Hubble Space Telescope Deep Field. Billed as the Hubble Deep Field South, it was produced by pointing the space telescope toward a patch of sky in the southern constellation Tucana.

A Deep Field In The Southern Sky
2.12.1998

This new deep view of the cosmos is the sequel to the 1995 hit Hubble Space Telescope Deep Field. Billed as the Hubble Deep Field South, it was produced by pointing the space telescope toward a patch of sky in the southern constellation Tucana.