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#HubbleFriday This Hubble image shows bright, colorful pockets of star formation blooming like roses in a spiral galaxy named NGC 972.

The orange-pink glow is created as hydrogen gas reacts to the intense light streaming outwards from nearby newborn stars; these bright patches can be seen here amid dark, tangled streams of cosmic dust.

Astronomers look for these telltale signs of star formation when they study galaxies throughout the cosmos, as star formation rates, locatio...ns, and histories offer critical clues about how these colossal collections of gas and dust have evolved over time. New generations of stars contribute to — and are also, in turn, influenced by — the broader forces and factors that mold galaxies throughout the universe, such as gravity, radiation, matter, and dark matter.

German-British astronomer William Herschel is credited with the discovery of NGC 972 in 1784. Astronomers have since measured its distance, finding it to be just under 70 million light-years away.

For more information: https://go.nasa.gov/32atssn

Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, L. Ho
#NASA #Hubble #space #science #astronomy #universe #telescope #cosmos #galaxy #stars #herschel #starformation

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#HubbleClassic The Hubble Space Telescope captured this view of the planet Mars between April 27 and May 6, 1999 (the middle of Martian northern summer), when the Red Planet was about 54 million miles from Earth. Surface features as small as 12 miles across are visible, including numerous craters, cloud-shrouded volcanoes, and a massive cyclonic storm churning near the north polar ice cap.

Four sets of Hubble telescope images, taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2,... were mapped and projected onto a sphere to create this animation of a rotating Mars.

Credits: Steven Lee (University of Colorado) and NASA
#NASA #Hubble #space #science #astronomy #universe #telescope #cosmos #mars #summer #storms #craters #volcanoes

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Summer on Mars
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Mission Possible: Women of the Hubble Space Telescope
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This #HubbleClassic was released in 2004: At first glance, Jupiter looks like it has a mild case of the measles. Five spots - one colored white, one blue, and three black - are scattered across the upper half of the planet. Closer inspection by Hubble reveals that these spots are actually a rare alignment of three of Jupiter's largest moons - Io, Ganymede, and Callisto - across the planet's face. The telltale signatures of this alignment are the shadows [the three black circles] cast by the moons. On Earth, we witness a solar eclipse when our Moon's shadow sweeps across our planet's face as it passes in front of our Sun. Jupiter, however, has four moons roughly the same size as Earth's Moon. The shadows of three of them occasionally sweep simultaneously across Jupiter. Seeing three shadows on Jupiter happens only about once or twice a decade. Why is this triple eclipse so unique? Io, Ganymede, and Callisto orbit Jupiter at different rates. Their shadows likewise cross Jupiter's face at different rates. For example, the outermost moon Callisto orbits the slowest of the three satellites. Callisto's shadow moves across the planet once for every 20 shadow crossings of Io. Add the crossing rate of Ganymede's shadow and the possibility of a triple eclipse becomes even more rare. Viewing the triple shadows in 2004 was even more special, because two of the moons were crossing Jupiter's face at the same time as the three shadows. For more information: https://go.nasa.gov/2qs95W6 Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona) #NASA #Hubble #space #science #astronomy #universe #telescope #cosmos #Jupiter #moons #planet #eclipse
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Over the past 28 years Hubble has photographed innumerable galaxies throughout the universe, near and far. But one especially photogenic galaxy located 55 million light-years away holds a special place in Hubble history. As NASA made plans to correct Hubble's blurry vision in 1993 (due to a manufacturing flaw in its primary mirror) they selected several astronomical objects that Hubble should be aimed at to demonstrate the planned optical fix. The magnificent grand spiral galaxy M100 seemed an ideal target that would just fit inside Hubble's field-of-view. This required that a comparison photo be taken while Hubble was still bleary-eyed. The Wide Field Planetary Camera 1 was selected for the task. And, the picture had to be taken before astronauts swapped-out the camera with the vision-corrected Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, in December 1993. Following the servicing mission Hubble re-photographed the galaxy again, and it snapped into crystal clear focus. The public celebrated with Hubble's triumphant return to the clear vision that had been promised. And, jaw-dropping pictures of the vast universe that followed have not disappointed space enthusiasts. Because of the astronaut serving missions, Hubble's capabilities have only gotten better. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first servicing mission, this GIF compares the blurry, pre-servicing 1993 image to a 2009 image taken with Hubble's newer, Wide Field Camera 3 instrument, installed during the last astronaut servicing mission to the space telescope. For more information: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/celebratory-galaxy-photo-honors-25th-anniversary-of-nasas-first-hubble-servicing-mission Credits: NASA, ESA, and Judy Schmidt #NASA #Hubble #space #science #astronomy #universe #telescope #cosmos #M100 #SM1 #anniversary #25Years #HubbleServicing25 #galaxy #astronaut
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