Hubble Telescope Spies Majestic Space Mountains

[mickw]

The prolific Hubble Space Telescope will hit an important milestone this weekend – the 20th anniversary of its launch. Hubble scientists are celebrating the iconic space telescope's milestone with a stunning new photo of pillar-like mountains of dust in a well-known nebula.

The stunning Hubble photo shows just a small part of the Carina Nebula, one of the largest seen star-birth regions in our galaxy. It captures the top of a 3 light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars.

The pillar is also being pushed apart from within, as infant stars buried inside emit jets of gas that can be seen streaming from the towering peaks.

More:   Space

[mickw]

A young, glittering collection of stars has been caught in the act of a dazzling celestial fireworks show, in a newly released photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The new Hubble space photo, which shows a nebula 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina, contains a central cluster of huge, hot stars called NGC 3603. This star cluster is surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust – the raw materials needed to form new stars.

While the stunning photo may look serene, the environment is actually quite volatile. Ultraviolet radiation and violent stellar winds have blown an enormous cavity in the bubble of gas and dust that envelopes the cluster. Coincidentally, this gives Hubble an unobstructed view of the star cluster's heart.

More:   Space