Light
23.and shadow in the Carina Nebula
Previously unseen details of a mysterious, complex structure within the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) are revealed by this
image of the ‘Keyhole Nebula.’. The picture is a montage assembled from four different April 1999 telescope pointings
with Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, which used six different colour filters. The picture is dominated by a large,
approximately circular feature, which is part of the Keyhole Nebula, named in the 19th century by Sir John Herschel. This
region, about 8000 light-years from Earth, is located adjacent to the famous explosive variable star Eta Carinae, which
lies just outside the field of view toward the upper right. The Carina Nebula also contains several other stars that are
among the hottest and most massive known, each about 10 times as hot, and 100 times as massive, as our Sun.
Credit: NASA/ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
Saturn
24.incolours
natural
The ring swirling around Saturn consists of chunks of ice and dust. Saturn itself is made of ammonia ice and methane gas.
The little dark spot on Saturn is the shadow from Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
Hubble has provided images of Saturn in many colors, from black-and-white, to orange, to blue, green, and red. But
in this picture, image processing specialists have worked to provide a crisp, extremely accurate view of Saturn, which
highlights the planet’s pastel colors. Bands of subtle colour - yellows, browns, grays - distinguish differences in the clouds
over Saturn, the second largest planet in the solar system.
Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA/ESA)