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A long-exposure Hubble Space Telescope image shows a majestic face-on spiral galaxy located deep within the Coma Cluster of galaxies, which lies 320 million light-years away in the northern constellation Coma Berenices. The galaxy, known as NGC 4911, contains rich lanes of dust and gas near its center. These are silhouetted against glowing newborn star clusters and iridescent pink clouds of hydrogen, the existence of which indicates ongoing star formation. Hubble has also captured the outer spiral arms of NGC 4911, along with thousands of other galaxies of varying sizes. The high resolution of Hubble’s cameras, paired with considerably long exposures, made it possible to observe these faint details.

This natural-color Hubble image, which combines data obtained in 2006, 2007, and 2009 from the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys, required 28 hours of exposure time.

Bravo!

This new gem rivals what may be Hubble’s most famous image, a shot of the Pillars of Creation taken in 1995. The shot above is of a star-forming region in the Carina Nebula. The enormous pillar of gas and dust is 3 light-years tall. The seam in the middle is the result of new stars forming and emitting powerful gas jets that are ripping the pillar apart.

Hubble’s capabilities are all the more impressive considering the rocky start the telescope suffered through when a defect was discovered in its primary mirror after it had been launched and began returning images that weren’t in focus. Scientists and engineers were able to fix the problem, and today Hubble is more capable than ever with its new Wide Field Camera 3, installed last year.

Check out this interactive timeline of Hubble’s history and RTFA for links to more beautiful images.

A star’s spectacular death in the constellation Taurus was observed on Earth as the supernova of 1054 A.D. Now, almost a thousand years later, a super dense object — called a neutron star — left behind by the explosion is seen spewing out a blizzard of high-energy particles into the expanding debris field known as the Crab Nebula. X-ray data from Chandra provide significant clues to the workings of this mighty cosmic “generator,” which is producing energy at the rate of 100,000 suns.

This composite image uses data from three of NASA’s Great Observatories. The Chandra X-ray image is shown in blue, the Hubble Space Telescope optical image is in red and yellow, and the Spitzer Space Telescope’s infrared image is in purple. The X-ray image is smaller than the others because extremely energetic electrons emitting X-rays radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. Along with many other telescopes, Chandra has repeatedly observed the Crab Nebula over the course of the mission’s lifetime. The Crab Nebula is one of the most studied objects in the sky, truly making it a cosmic icon.

Back in 1054 – this scared the Beejeebus out of your everyday superstitious supplicant. Couldn’t happen today – right?

Carina Nebula
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Astronomers are celebrating the release of remarkable new images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

They prove the mission carried out by astronauts in May to service the observatory was an outstanding success…

Nasa says the orbiting telescope, regarded as one of the most important scientific tools ever built, should keep working until at least 2014.

The US space agency and its international partners plan now to concentrate their efforts on preparing a bigger and more capable observatory known as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The British astronomer Dr Paul Murdin, from the University of Cambridge, said the new images were breathtaking.

“My first reaction is ‘my god, it all worked, it’s fantastic’,” he told BBC News.

“Refurbishment missions are always a little bit iffy because things can go wrong; astronauts can muck it up, maybe we didn’t think about this or that when we redesigned the equipment, reinstalled it and refurbished it.

“But these images definitely show that Hubble is in good shape for what will be – unfortunately – its last few years.

“It’s going to go out with a real bang.”

Ain’t a bad way to go…

Daylife/Reuters Pictures

Just give it a whack. Sometimes, it seems, even in the highest of high-tech circles, there is no substitute for good old brute force.

The question aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on Sunday was whether Michael J. Massimino would rock a handrail on the Hubble Space Telescope back and forth to fatigue a stripped bolt that was stubbornly holding it, or just give the rail a big yank to break it and the bolt off.

Beyond the rail were 111 screws. Beyond the screws were the internal electronics of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, the intended object of “brain surgery” on the fourth of five days of spacewalks meant to repair and upgrade the telescope…For the last three years, engineers and astronauts had been preparing a procedure to break into the instrument, capture all the screws and fix the power supply.

But first the spacewalkers, Dr. Massimino and Col. Michael T. Good of the Air Force, had to get the handrail off.

It was the third of four spacewalks in this mission, the last to the 19-year-old telescope, to be stymied by low-tech problems like bad bolts. Meanwhile, trickier jobs, like the repair on Saturday of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, have gone smoothly…

Adam Riess, a heavy Hubble user at the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University who was watching on NASA TV, wrote in an e-mail message: “We always joke that they wait until they are out of TV view to use the hammers and crowbars.” He added, “I guess they really do!”

Every little bit helps. I go all the way back to kin who helped produce this critter – and tried to get officialdom to comprehend the essential problems that were built-in by mistake. So, the history of “repairs” and corrections are always of special interest.

We’re already well past any original projected lifespan – so, we’re all winners.

The Hubble Space Telescope has new eyes and a new nervous system. It took all of the astronaut Andrew J. Feustel’s experience as a mechanic and an old Jaguar restorer, however, to accomplish the eyeball part.

The first task on a five-day set of repair and maintenance spacewalks from the space shuttle Atlantis was to install a new camera, the Wide-Field Camera 3, on the Hubble. But to get it in, astronauts first had to remove the old camera by unscrewing a seven-foot bolt known as the “A” latch, which was last moved in 1993 when astronauts on the first Hubble servicing mission installed the camera.

At first, the latch did not want to move. For about an hour, Dr. Feustel, working on the end of the robot arm, tried a variety of computer-controlled wrenches and settings, while John M. Grunsfeld, mission specialist, floated about fetching tools.

Finally, mission controllers gave Dr. Feustel permission to apply as much muscle as he wanted, even if the balky bolt broke. If that happened, the old camera, which has performed flawlessly for almost 16 years, would have to stay in the telescope and the new $126 million camera would have to go home — not a great start to the servicing mission.

But the bolt finally budged and then turned freely. “Woo hoo, it’s moving out,” Dr. Feustel said.

“That’s been there for 16 years,” Dr. Grunsfeld said.

Dr. Feustel replied, “And it didn’t want to come out.”

An hour later, as the Atlantis was sailing over the southwest Pacific, Dr. Feustel was sliding the new camera into the telescope and latching it down. Controllers from the ground reported that the camera had passed electrical tests and was “alive.”

Good news for science, good news for expanding our knowledge of the universe.

Good scientists don’t worry about everything being “known” at some point in time. They just understand that everything is knowable.

The public has voted on where they want to aim their favorite space observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope.

And the winner is-drum roll please–a pair of close-knit galaxies that look like they are shaking hands–or rather spiral arms.

Out of a total of 139,944 votes cast online by the public since the “Hubble, You Decide” contest opened on January 28, nearly 50 percent favored the interacting pair of spiral galaxies called Arp 274 (from the Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies) over five other celestial candidates.

Hubble has shown that interacting galaxies are very photogenic because, under the relentless pull of gravity, they weave elegant twisted lanes of dust and stars, and brilliant blue clusters of newborn stars. The new picture of Arp 274 promises to reveal intriguing never-before-seen details in the galactic grand slam.

Looking forward to the research.

“Hubble’s Next Discovery — You Decide” is part of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA), the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s observations. People around the world can vote to select the next object the Hubble Space Telescope will view. Choose from a list of objects Hubble has never observed before and enter a drawing for one of 100 new Hubble pictures of the winning object. The winning image will be released between April 2 and 5, during the IYA’s 100 Hours of Astronomy, a global astronomy event geared toward encouraging as many people as possible to experience the night sky. Vote by March 1 to swing Hubble toward your favorite target.

The Hubble site is one of my favorites – as are their video podcasts at iTunes. The contest is a gas [primordial or otherwise] – so, get on board.