Astronomy and Stars
Discussions about astronomy and stars. As we look further out what can we find in the universe beyond Earth's atmosphere?
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Astronomers report that they have found new evidence that a black hole weighing 3 million times the mass of the Sun exists at the center of the nearby elliptical galaxy M32, based on images obtained with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The images show that the stars in M32 become extremely concentrated toward the nucleus. This central structure resembles the gravitational "signature" of a massive black hole. The presence of a black hole in an ordinary galaxy like M32 may mean that inactive black holes are common to the centers of galaxies. The new HST images show that M32 is an interesting "laboratory" for testing theories of the formation of massive black holes. …
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A new image processing technique has yielded the clearest view yet of an extraordinary star cluster located about 169,000 light years from Earth. The new technique, called photometric reconstruction, was applied to a photograph of the star cluster Rl36 that was obtained with the Planetary Camera onboard the NASA Hubble Space Telescope. It reveals that there are at least 47 stars located within an area 1.6 light years across in Rl36. (One light year is approximately 5.8 trillion miles long.) In contrast, the Sun is about 4 light years from the nearest known star, Proxima Centauri. View the full article
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This photograph from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope presents the first clear view of one of the hottest known stars, the central star of nebula NGC 2440 in our Milky Way galaxy. The superhot star, called "the NGC 2440 nucleus" is the bright white dot in the center of this photograph. View the full article
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The image at top right shows Jovian aurora observed on February 8, 1992, by the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera (FOC) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This is the first direct image of the aurora taken in ultraviolet light (1600 Angstroms) and the best auroral images ever. An earlier image of Jupiter's full disk (lower left), obtained by HST's Wide Field/Planetary Camera, shows the location of the northern aurora (box) with respect to the rest of the planet. View the full article
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Astronomers report today that they have found intriguing evidence that a black hole weighing over 2.6 billion times the mass of the Sun exists at the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87, based upon images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The images show that stars become strongly concentrated towards the center of M87, as if drawn into the center and held there by the gravitational field of a massive black hole. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided intriguing new clues to cataclysmic events in the history of the peculiar galaxy NGC 1275, located approximately 200 million light-years from Earth. View the full article
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A NASA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) view of a 4,000 light-year long jet of plasma emanating from the bright nucleus of the giant elliptical galaxy M87. This ultraviolet light image was made with the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera (FOC), one of two imaging systems aboard HST. View the full article
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The Space Telescope Science Institute (ST ScI) has selected 13 new scientists for the Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The awardees were selected from a pool of 115 highly-qualified candidates from 28 countries. View the full article
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Drs. Bahcall, Dan Maoz, Donald Schneider, and Brian Yanny, all of the Institute for Astronomers are reporting surprising and interesting initial results from a survey of several hundred quasars now being carried out with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Using HST's extremely high resolution images, this "Snapshot Survey" program has sought to detect evidence on gravitational lensing at a level of detail not obtainable with ground-based telescopes. View the full article
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Astronomers reported today that recent ultraviolet observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope suggest that what were thought to be randomly distributed, nearby primordial clouds of hydrogen may actually be associated with galaxies or clusters of galaxies. View the full article
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Using a unique capability of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) astronomers announced today that they have detected the rare element boron in an ancient star. This element may be 'fossil' evidence of energetic events which accompanied the birth of our Milky Way galaxy. An alternative possibility is that this rare element may be even older, dating from the birth of our universe. If so, then the HST findings may force some modification in theories of the Big Bang itself. View the full article
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This is the first true-color photograph of the giant planet Jupiter from the Wide Field Planetary Camera on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. All features in this image are cloud formations in the atmosphere of Jupiter, which contain small crystals of frozen ammonia and traces of colorful chemical compounds of carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus. The temperatures of the clouds are extremely cold, about -280 degrees F. View the full article
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High resolution observations of the core of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, made with the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera (FOC) onboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST), provide new evidence that stars may collide and capture each other and gain a new "lease on life" in the process. The FOC observations reveal a surprisingly high concentration of a unique class of star called blue stragglers, which may evolve from "old age" back to a hotter and brighter "youth". These stars may also play a critical role in the dynamic evolution of the cluster's core. View the full article
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Exposures taken through separate red, green, and blue filters and used to create a color image of Mars (lower right). The red filter shows the best surface detail. Because Mars' atmosphere scatters blue light (as on Earth) Martian surface detail is obscured in the blue filter exposure. The blue filter exposure does allow for clouds to be easily seen. A polar hood of clouds over Mars' north pole is evident, and a thin sheet of morning clouds is evident on the western limb (bottom). View the full article
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This is an artist's concept of the near stellar environment of the star Beta Pictoris. This illustration is based upon recent observations made with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. View the full article
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This black and white picture of Jupiter, taken in green light at 1:14 a.m. on the 11th March, 1991 by the Planetary Camera on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows a wealth of fine detail in the clouds that cover the planet. The Great Red Spot is seen at the lower right, also on the right near the equator the satellite Europa is disappearing behind the limb of the planet. The dark 'j' shaped clouds along the equator are the result of a pattern of intense jet streams in the Jovian atmosphere. This picture is as sharp as the Voyager pictures taken five days before the closest approach in 1979. View the full article
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Observations of a massive, unstable star called Eta Carinae, made with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope HST, reveal surprising and complex new structure in a dusty nebula surrounding the star. New details include a jet of material flowing away from the star and a regularly spaced set of wave-like features. The results are being reported on May 17, 1991 at the Hubble Space Telescope Science Writer's Workshop in Baltimore Md. View the full article
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Citing "exceptional accomplishments and contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) project," NASA has given awards to Dr. Rodger Doxsey, Chief of the Science and Engineering Systems Division at Space Telescope Science Institute (ST ScI), James Crocker, Head of STScI's Operations Division, and to the team of astronomers and engineers which implemented the early engineering tests on the space observatory. View the full article
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The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has selected 12 new scientists for the Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The awardees were selected from a pool of 115 highly-qualified candidates from 24 countries. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has begun a long-term program to monitor seasonal and interannual changes that occur on the surface and in the atmosphere of the planet Mars. This program will allow for a better understanding of the martian climate and processes involved in surface changes, and may eventually allow scientists to characterize global weather patterns on Mars, which will be an important prerequisite for a manned expedition to the red planet. View the full article
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The accompanying movie shows the Saturn white spot, a great storm in the equatorial region of Saturn, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field/Planetary Camera in November 1990. The white spot was discovered by amateur astronomers in September, 1990. Such storms are rare: the last one in the equatorial region occurred in 1933. The movie contains one complete rotation of Saturn. The storm extends completely around the planet, in some places it appears as great masses of clouds and in others as well organized turbulence. View the full article
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Astronomers today presented pictures taken with the Hubble Space Telescope of the heart of M15, a dense cluster of stars within our own Galaxy. The pictures show for the first time that M15 is in the process of recovering from a deep implosion of its core regions, caused by a massive gravitational instability. Many other star clusters may have experienced a similar collapse, in which their central stars crowd into a compact aggregate, causing a sharp rise in central density. This process may also happen in the dense centers of galaxies, where it may lead to the formation of massive black holes. The analysis of the Hubble images was presented by Dr. Tod R. Lauer of the Nat…
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Astronomers today presented pictures taken with the Hubble Space Telescope of the heart of M15, a dense cluster of stars within our own Galaxy. The pictures show for the first time that M15 is in the process of recovering from a deep implosion of its core regions, caused by a massive gravitational instability. Many other star clusters may have experienced a similar collapse, in which their central stars crowd into a compact aggregate, causing a sharp rise in central density. This process may also happen in the dense centers of galaxies, where it may lead to the formation of massive black holes. The analysis of the Hubble images was presented by Dr. Tod R. Lauer of the Nat…
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Recent observations of the remnants of Supernova 1987A, conducted with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have provided an unexpected bonus - an accurate determination of the absolute distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located in the southern hemisphere. View the full article
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided a detailed view of a ten thousand light-year long jet of plasma which has been ejected from the core of a galaxy 270 million light-years away. Observations made with the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera (FOC) reveal that the jet has an unusual braided structure, like a twisted pair of wires. "This is the first time that such a structure has been seen in an optical jet," says F. Duccio Macchetto, ESA's Principal Investigator on the FOC and Head of the Science Programs Division at the Space Telescope Science Institute. View the full article
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