Light
17.continues to echo three
years after stellar outburst
This Hubble image of the star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) reveals dramatic changes in the
illumination of surrounding dusty cloud structures. The effect, called a light echo, has been
unveiling never-before-seen dust patterns ever since the star suddenly brightened for several
weeks in early 2002.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
“With a superior resolving power to most other telescopes and the
unobscured view of the universe from above our atmosphere,
Hubble takes truly beautiful, unique images of the cosmos.”
— Dr. Katherine E. Whitaker
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow
Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
Beautiful barred spiral
18. NGC 1300
galaxy
One of the largest Hubble Space Telescope images ever made of a
complete galaxy was unveiled at the American Astronomical Society
meeting in San Diego, Calif.
The Hubble telescope captured a display of starlight, glowing gas, and
silhouetted dark clouds of interstellar dust in this 4-foot-by-8-foot image
of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300. NGC 1300 is considered to be
prototypical of barred spiral galaxies. Barred spirals differ from normal
spiral galaxies in that the arms of the galaxy do not spiral all the way into
the center, but are connected to the two ends of a straight bar of stars
containing the nucleus at its center.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA)