1. Veil Nebula
Photo by Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble team released this image on September 24, 2015. The Veil Nebula, located in the constellation Cygnus, is a supernova remnant, a cloud of gas and dust left behind by a massive star 20 times the mass of the Sun that exploded 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. The Veil Nebula is about 6 moons in diameter and is about 2,400 light-years away from Earth.
The Veil Nebula consists of three main parts: the Western Veil (NGC 6960), the Eastern Veil (NGC 6992 and NGC 6995), and the Pickering's Triangle. They vary in color as they contain different elements like oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen. The Veil Nebula is also an intense emitter of radio waves and X-rays.
The veil nebula is irregular in shape because the shock wave from the supernova explosion hits the surrounding interstellar gas, creating an uneven shell. The density of the gases in the shell is uneven, so some places are bright, some places are dark, and some places are even missing. The Veil Nebula continues to expand outward, and photographs taken with the Hubble Space Telescope can see how it changes.
The Veil Nebula is an amazing astronomical spectacle that allows us to witness the life and death of our stars, and also allows us to feel the magnificence and mystery of the universe.
2、NGC 4634
Photo by Hubble Space Telescope
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured a clear image of NGC 4634, which was released on September 17, 2012. This is a galaxy that is facing us right on the side. Located in the constellation Comae, about 70 million light-years from Earth, NGC 4634 is one of a pair of interacting galaxies. Its neighbor, NGC 4633, is located in the upper right corner of the image, and gravitational interactions pull galaxies into neat spirals as they move closer to each other, and disturbances from gas clouds trigger star-forming activity. The spiral shape of this galaxy is not directly visible due to our side-view view, but its disk is slightly distorted and there are clear signs of star formation.
3. Stars brewing in Cygnus X
Photo by Spitzer Space Telescope
This photograph was taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in 2012 and shows a stellar breeding field in Cygnus X. This image reveals how massive stars blow bubbles or cavities in dust and gas, triggering the death and birth of stars. It color-coded infrared rays that we can't see with the naked eye, with yellow-white areas being the warm centers of star formation, and green and red representing different types of dust and gas. Cygnus X is located about 4,500 light-years from Earth and contains three million solar masses of material. It is one of the most active star-forming regions in our galaxy.
In 2009, the Hubble Space Telescope's wide-angle camera No. 3 captured a crisp close-up of the dying star nebula.
4、蝴蝶星云NGC 6302
Photo by Hubble Space Telescope
Dying stars can also create beautiful images, such as this butterfly nebula NGC 6302, a bipolar planetary nebula located in the constellation Scorpio, about 3,500 light-years from Earth. Its shape resembles that of a butterfly with outstretched wings, and its wingspan of gas is more than 3 light-years. Its central star is extremely hot, with an estimated surface temperature of up to 250,000 degrees Celsius, and as a result, it emits bright visible and ultraviolet radiation, even though it is obscured by a dense ring of dust. The above crisp close-up image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has been specially processed to highlight the subtle structure of this planetary nebula in the wavelengths of oxygen (blue), hydrogen (green) and nitrogen (red) emitting radiation.
NASA released a set of images of the Monkey Head Nebula (NGC 2174) captured by the Hubble Telescope to commemorate the Hubble Telescope's 24th birthday
5. Hericium erinaceus nebula
Photo by Hubble Space Telescope
This glittering deep-sky image from the Hubble Space Telescope, in which dust, gas, and stars are entangled, is known as the Monkey Head Nebula (aka NGC 2174 and Sharpless Sh2-252). The Hericium Erinaceus Nebula is an area rich in the formation of new stars. It is located in the constellation Orion, about 6400 light-years from Earth. This 24th anniversary image was posted on April 3, 2015.
6. The Large Magellanic Nebula
Photo by Spitzer Space Telescope
The Large Magellanic Nebula, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, is also considered a dwarf galaxy when discussing the Milky Way. It is about 160,000 light-years away, about 15,000 light-years in diameter, and about 20 billion stars. Its name comes from the 16th-century Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, who observed it and the Magellanic system while traveling around the globe.
This photograph of the Large Magellanic Cloud under infrared light, photographed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory. In this merged image, the dwarf galaxy looks like a cluster of exploding flames. However, these are actually huge ripples of dust that span tens or hundreds of light-years.
7. Galaxy collisions
Photo by Hubble Space Telescope
On October 28, 2019, NASA released this image from the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows two distant galaxies in a head-on collision.
Such tragedies may happen to us in the future. According to scientists' estimates, in about 3.75 billion years, the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy will collide, merge and merge to form a much larger galaxy - the Milky Way Andromeda Galaxy.
8、螺线图星云IC 418
Photo by Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Science Team released this image of the nebula on September 7, 2000. The Spiral Nebula IC 418 is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Lepus, which resembles a pattern drawn with a kaleidoscope, hence its name.
The image depicts the characteristics of the spiral nebula. Colors represent ingredients: nitrogen (red), hydrogen (green), oxygen (blue). The star at the center of IC 418 was a red giant thousands of years ago, but later ejected its outer layers into space to form a nebula, which has now expanded to about 0.2 light-years in diameter.
The stellar remnant at the center is the thermonucleus of the red giant, which releases ultraviolet light to the surrounding gas, causing it to fluoresce. Over the next few thousand years, the nebula will gradually disperse into space, while the star will cool and disappear as a white dwarf for millions of years.
This is a photo of the 15th anniversary of the Hubble telescope, released on April 25, 2005.
9. Spiral galaxies
Photo by Hubble Space Telescope
Spiral Galaxy (NGC 5194) This is a very beautiful and interesting galaxy, it is the first galaxy to be discovered and classified as a spiral galaxy, located in the constellation Canis, about 32 million light-years from Earth and about 109,000 light-years in diameter. It has two bright spiral arms, which are corridors of stars and gases, which are also doped with dust. These arms are star-forming factories that compress hydrogen to produce new clusters of stars.
The Spiral Galaxy (NGC 5194) also has a companion galaxy called NGC 51953, which is a smaller elliptical galaxy located at the outermost end of one of the spiral arms of NGC 5194. There is a strong gravitational pull between these two galaxies, causing them to distort and influence each other. This interaction also contributed to the star formation of NGC 5194, making its spiral arm more prominent. This is a great example of how interactions between galaxies affect the structure and evolution of galaxies.
10. Crab nebula
Photo by Hubble Space Telescope
The Crab Nebula (NGC 1952) is a supernova remnant, a cloud of gas left behind by the explosion of a star. It is located in the constellation Taurus, about 6,500 light-years from Earth. Its diameter is about 10 light-years, which is equivalent to 10 trillion kilometers. It is shaped a bit like a crab, so it is called the Crab Nebula.
The formation of the Crab Nebula is associated with a historical supernova explosion. In 1054, astronomers in China and Japan observed a very bright guest star, a nova that suddenly appeared in the sky. The guest star was also visible during the day, lasting 23 days, and at night for almost two years. This was the predecessor of the Crab Nebula, a massive star that exploded violently when it died.
The Crab Nebula is a very special object because it emits radiation from electromagnetic waves of various wavelengths, from radio waves to gamma rays. This is because in the center of the Crab Nebula, there is a neutron star, that is, a dense star made up of neutrons. The neutron star rotates 30.2 times per second, generating a strong magnetic field and a stream of particles at the same time. These streams of particles interact with the surrounding gas clouds to form the complex structure and colorful glow of the Crab Nebula. This neutron star is known as a crab pulsar because it emits regular pulsed signals on electromagnetic waves of different wavelengths.
The Crab Nebula is a very interesting object of study because it can help us understand the process of supernova explosions, the properties of neutron stars, and the sources of cosmic rays. It is also a very beautiful celestial object, and its vague outline can be seen with a telescope or binoculars.