To celebrate the 34th anniversary of NASA's legendary Hubble Space Telescope in orbit on April 24, 1990, astronomers took a snapshot of the Little Dumbbell Nebula. Also known as Messier 76, M76, or NGC 650/651, the Little Dumbbell Nebula consists of a ring-shaped structure (a central rod-like structure seen from the edges) and two lobes at the openings on either side of the ring, which is located in the constellation Perseus.
Astronomers celebrated the 34th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope by taking images of the small dumbbell nebula 3400 light-years away. Hubble has made 1.6 million observations, which have led researchers to publish more than 44,000 scientific papers. The James Webb Space Telescope complements the Hubble Telescope and continues to expand our understanding of the universe. Image Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI)
A red giant star ejects a ring of gas and dust before it burns out. This ring may have been formed by the action of a binary companion star. This shedding material forms a thick disk of dust and gas along the plane of the companion star's orbit. The imaginary companion star is not visible in the Hubble image, so it may have been later engulfed by the central star. This disk is evidence of the devouring of the stars.
Professional astronomers first photographed its spectrum in 1891, and the results showed it to be a nebula, not a galaxy or a star cluster. They believe that M76 may resemble the doughnut-shaped ring nebula (M57) rather than being seen from the side.
For more than three decades, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized modern astronomy, not only benefiting astronomers but also taking the public on a fascinating journey of exploration and discovery. Each year, Hubble dedicates a small portion of his precious observation time to taking special anniversary images that showcase particularly beautiful and meaningful objects. The 34th anniversary of Hubble's launch is celebrated with a snapshot of the Little Dumbbell Nebula. Image Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI), N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)
M76 is classified as a planetary nebula, which is an expanding shell made up of luminous gas ejected from a dying red giant. The star eventually collapsed into a white dwarf with ultra-high density and temperature. Planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets, but they are called planetary nebulae because astronomers who used low-powered telescopes in the 1700s thought the object resembled planets.
M76 consists of a ring structure and two lobes located at either end of the ring structure. Before the star burns out, it ejects a ring of gas and dust. This ring may have been formed by the influence of a star that once had a binary companion star. This shedding material forms a thick disk of dust and gas along the plane of the companion star's orbit. The imaginary companion star is not visible in the Hubble image, so it may have been later engulfed by the central star. This disc will become forensic evidence of the stellar "cannibalism".
On the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the Hubble Telescope, it photographed the Little Dumbbell Nebula, demonstrating the Hubble Telescope's ongoing role in the discovery of the universe and astronomical research. Image Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI)
The host star is collapsing, forming a white dwarf. It is one of the hottest known stellar remnants, reaching a scorching temperature of 120,000 degrees Celsius, 24 times the surface temperature of the Sun. A hot white dwarf can be seen as a needle tip in the center of a nebula. A star can be seen in the projection below it, but it is not part of the nebula.
Under the squeeze of the disk, two sheets of hot gas escape from the top and bottom of the "belt" along the axis of rotation of the star (perpendicular to the disk). Fueled by a hurricane-like outflow of material from dying stars, they tear apart in space at a speed of 2 million miles per hour. That's enough speed to fly from Earth to the Moon in just over seven minutes! This surging "stellar wind" is hitting the cooler, slower-flowing gas that the star ejected early on, when the star was a red giant. Intense ultraviolet radiation from this ultra-hot star causes the gas to glow. The red comes from nitrogen and the blue comes from oxygen.
Given that our solar system is 4.6 billion years old, the entire nebula is a flash in the pan according to cosmological timekeeping. It will disappear in about 15,000 years.
Since its launch in 1990, Hubble has made 1.6 million observations of more than 53,000 objects. To date, the Mikulsky Space Telescope Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, holds 184 terabytes of processed data that can be used by astronomers around the world for scientific research and analysis. European mirrors of public data are housed in the European Hubble Space Telescope (eHST) scientific archives of ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC).
Since 1990, astronomers have published 44,000 scientific papers based on Hubble observations. This includes a record 1,056 papers published in 2023, of which 409 were led by authors from ESA member states. The use of the Hubble telescope is in very high demand and is currently oversubscribed six times.
Over the past year, new discoveries made with Hubble have included the discovery of water in the atmosphere of the smallest exoplanet to date, the discovery of bizarre cosmic explosions far from any host galaxy, the tracking of spokes on Saturn's rings, and the unexpected fate of the most distant and powerful fast radio bursts ever seen. Hubble's research on the asteroid Dimorphos, the target of a deliberate collision of NASA spacecraft in September 2022 to change its orbit, continues to detect boulders released by impact.
This video will take viewers on a journey through images of the 34th anniversary of the launch of the legendary NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope: the Little Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 76, M76 or NGC 650/651). This object is located 3,400 light-years away in the constellation Perseus North Circle. This highly photographed nebula is a favorite target for amateur astronomers. Sources: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI), credit: D. Crowson, A. Fujii, Digitized Sky Survey
Hubble also continues to provide spectacular images of celestial objects, including spiral galaxies, globular clusters, and star-forming nebulae. A newly formed star is the source of the cosmic light show. Hubble imagery was also combined with infrared observations from the NASA/ESA/CAS James Webb Space Telescope to form an image of one of the most comprehensive cosmic landscapes ever seen, the galaxy cluster MACS 0416.
Most of Hubble's discoveries were not anticipated before launch, such as supermassive black holes, exoplanet atmospheres, dark matter gravitational lensing, the presence of dark energy, and the abundance of interstellar planet formation. Hubble will continue to conduct research in these areas and use its unique ultraviolet light capabilities to study solar system phenomena, supernova explosions, the composition of exoplanetary atmospheres, and the dynamic radiation of galaxies. Hubble's research will continue to benefit from its long-term observations of solar system objects, variable star phenomena, and other bizarre cosmic astrophysics.
The performance characteristics of the James Webb Space Telescope are intended to be a unique addition to the Hubble Telescope, not a replacement. Future Hubble research will also take advantage of synergies with the Webb telescope, which uses infrared light to observe the universe. The complementary wavelength coverage of the two space telescopes has enabled breakthrough research in areas such as protostellar disks, exoplanet composition, anomalous supernovae, galactic cores, and the chemistry of the distant universe.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been in operation for more than three decades and continues to make breakthrough discoveries that form our fundamental understanding of the universe.
The Hubble Telescope is an international collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Aerospace, based in Denver, Colorado, also supported Goddard's mission operations. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, is operated by the Association of Astronomical Research Universities and conducts Hubble's scientific operations for NASA.
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