Hubble Snaps some Cool Shots

Remember when I told you about the Hubble mission and the update it was receiving. I told you how this would be the last time - even though what these astronauts did will last the massive telescope a decade.

The first shots are up and posted. This is one of the Butterfly Nebula
It's colorful "wings" are actually cauldrons of heated gas ejected from a dying star that was once about five times the mass of the Sun. The star is now discharging a stream of ultraviolet radiation that makes the cast-off material glow.

This is Omega Centauri.

There are about 10 million stars here. Most of the stars seen here are white-yellow, similar to our Sun. The orange stars are further into their lifecycle, having become larger and cooler. They'll continue to cool and expand in size, eventually becoming red giants seen here as the bright red dots.

This is Stephan' Quintet. Don't be fooled into thinking that they are all right together. They're not.

The galaxy in the upper left is believed to actually be seven times closer to Earth than the rest of the group. The three other galaxies have distorted shapes, elongated spiral arms, and gaseous tails as evidence of their close proximity.

Here are the high resolution shots.

Saturn animation

It has been awhile since I posted here and I apologize for that. Life interrupts a good deal of my best intentions - as you will find out as you grow up and grow older Junior. I just hope that your interest in the night sky will not wane in the process. Building on what you know at age twelve is a lot easier than trying to build on your knowledge at age 52 - not impossible just harder.

Here is a link to a great Saturn animation I found that might interest you. It was compiled over a six year period.