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By NASA
Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities 3D Hubble Models Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Studies a Spiral’s Supernova Scene
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the barred spiral galaxy IC 758. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick This serene spiral galaxy hides a cataclysmic past. The galaxy IC 758, shown in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, is situated 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.
Hubble captured this image in 2023. IC 758 appears peaceful, with its soft blue spiral arms curving gently around its hazy barred center. However, in 1999, astronomers spotted a powerful explosion in this galaxy. The supernova SN 1999bg marked the dramatic end of a star far more massive than the Sun.
Researchers do not know exactly how massive this star was before it exploded, but will use these Hubble observations to measure the masses of stars in SN 1999bg’s neighborhood. These measurements will help them estimate the mass of the star that went supernova. The Hubble data may also reveal whether SN 1999bg’s progenitor star had a companion, which would provide additional clues about the star’s life and death.
A supernova represents more than just the demise of a single star — it’s also a powerful force that can shape its neighborhood. When a massive star collapses, triggering a supernova, its outer layers rebound off its shrunken core. The explosion stirs the interstellar soup of gas and dust out of which new stars form. This interstellar shakeup can scatter and heat nearby gas clouds, preventing new stars from forming, or it can compress them, creating a burst of new star formation. The cast-off layers enrich the interstellar medium, from which new stars form, with heavy elements manufactured in the core of the supernova.
Text Credit: ESA/Hubble
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
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Last Updated Jun 13, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble’s Galaxies
Homing in on Cosmic Explosions
Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge
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By NASA
Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities 3D Hubble Models Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Captures Starry Spectacle
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the barred spiral galaxy NGC 685. ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee, F. Belfiore A galaxy ablaze with young stars is the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. Named NGC 685, this galaxy is situated about 64 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus (the River). NGC 685 is a barred spiral because its feathery spiral arms sprout from the ends of a bar of stars at the galaxy’s center. The Milky Way is also a barred spiral, but our galaxy is a little less than twice the size of NGC 685.
Astronomers used Hubble to study NGC 685 for two observing programs, both focused on star formation. It’s no surprise that NGC 685 was part of these programs: numerous patches of young, blue stars highlight the galaxy’s spiral arms. Also visible are pink gas clouds, called H II (pronounced ‘H-two’) regions, that glow for a short time when particularly hot and massive stars are born. An especially eye-catching H II region peeks out at the bottom edge of the image. Despite the dozens of star-forming regions evident in this image, NGC 685 converts an amount of gas equivalent to less than half the mass of the Sun into stars each year.
The Hubble data collected for the two observing programs will allow astronomers to catalogue 50,000 H II regions and 100,000 star clusters in nearby galaxies. By combining Hubble’s sensitive visible and ultraviolet observations with infrared data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and radio data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, researchers can peer into the depths of dusty stellar nurseries and illuminate the stars forming there.
Text Credit: ESA/Hubble
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
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Last Updated Jun 05, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble’s Galaxies
3D Hubble Models
Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge
View the full article
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By European Space Agency
On 31 May, a live performance of The Blue Danube – often referred to as the ‘anthem of space’ – was transmitted by the European Space Agency (ESA) into the vastness of space. The event marked a double celebration: ESA’s 50th anniversary and the 200th birthday of the King of Waltz Johann Strauss II.
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By NASA
ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a sparkling cloudscape from one of the Milky Way’s galactic neighbors, a dwarf galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Located 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest of the Milky Way’s many small satellite galaxies.
This view of dusty gas clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud is possible thanks to Hubble’s cameras, such as the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) that collected the observations for this image. WFC3 holds a variety of filters, and each lets through specific wavelengths, or colors, of light. This image combines observations made with five different filters, including some that capture ultraviolet and infrared light that the human eye cannot see.
The wispy gas clouds in this image resemble brightly colored cotton candy. When viewing such a vividly colored cosmic scene, it is natural to wonder whether the colors are ‘real’. After all, Hubble, with its 7.8-foot-wide (2.4 m) mirror and advanced scientific instruments, doesn’t bear resemblance to a typical camera! When image-processing specialists combine raw filtered data into a multi-colored image like this one, they assign a color to each filter. Visible-light observations typically correspond to the color that the filter allows through. Shorter wavelengths of light such as ultraviolet are usually assigned blue or purple, while longer wavelengths like infrared are typically red.
This color scheme closely represents reality while adding new information from the portions of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans cannot see. However, there are endless possible color combinations that can be employed to achieve an especially aesthetically pleasing or scientifically insightful image.
Learn how Hubble images are taken and processed.
Text credit: ESA/Hubble
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray
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By NASA
X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/Stroe, A. et al.; Optical: PanSTARRS; Radio: ASTRON/LOFAR; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk New observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have captured a rare cosmic event: two galaxy clusters have collided and are now poised to head back for another swipe at each other.
Galaxy clusters are some of the largest structures in the Universe. Held together by gravity, they are monster-sized collections of hundreds or thousands of individual galaxies, massive amounts of superheated gas, and invisible dark matter.
The galaxy cluster PSZ2 G181.06+48.47 (PSZ2 G181 for short) is about 2.8 billion light-years from Earth. Previously, radio observations from the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR), an antenna network in the Netherlands, spotted parentheses-shaped structures on the outside of the system. In this new composite image, X-rays from Chandra (purple) and ESA’s XMM-Newton (blue) have been combined with LOFAR data (red) and an optical image from Pan-STARRs of the stars in the field of view.
These structures are probably shock fronts — similar to those created by jets that have broken the sound barrier — likely caused by disruption of gas from the initial collision about a billion years ago. Since the collision they have continued traveling outwards and are currently separated by about 11 million light-years, the largest separation of these kinds of structures that astronomers have ever seen.
Colliding galaxy clusters PSZ2 G181.06+48.47 (Labeled).X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/Stroe, A. et al.; Optical: PanSTARRS; Radio: ASTRON/LOFAR; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk Now, data from NASA’s Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton is providing evidence that PSZ2 G181 is poised for another collision. Having a first pass at ramming each other, the two clusters have slowed down and begun heading back toward a second crash.
Astronomers made a detailed study of the X-ray observations of this collision site and found three shock fronts. These are aligned with the axis of the collision, and the researchers think they are early signs of the second, oncoming crash.
The researchers are still trying to determine how much mass each of the colliding clusters contains. Regardless, the total mass of the system is less than others where galaxy clusters have collided. This makes PSZ2 G181 an unusual case of a lower-mass system involved in the rare event of colliding galaxy clusters.
A paper describing these results appears in a recent issue of The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) and is led by Andra Stroe from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and collaborators. It is part of a series of three papers in ApJ. The second paper is led by Kamlesh Rajpurohit, also of CfA, and the third paper is led by Eunmo Ahn, from Yonsei University in the Republic of Korea.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
https://www.nasa.gov/chandra
https://chandra.si.edu
Visual Description
In this release, a composite image illustrates a dramatic cosmic story unfolding 2.8 billion light years from Earth. Presented both with and without labels, the image details the fallout when two galaxy clusters collide.
At the center of the image are the colliding galaxy clusters, which together are known as PSZ2 G181. This combined cluster somewhat resembles an irregular violet peanut shell, with bulbous ends linked by a tapered middle. Inside each bulbous end are several glowing dots; some of the galaxies within the clusters. The violet peanut shape is tilted at a slight angle, surrounded by a blue haze of X-ray gas.
Far from the bulbous ends, at our upper left and lower right, are two blotchy, thick red lines. These are probably shock fronts, similar to those created by jets that have broken the sound barrier. Bracketing the combined galaxy cluster, these shock fronts were caused by the initial collision about a billion years ago. They are currently separated by 11 million light-years.
New data from the Chandra and XMM-Newton observatories suggests that PSZ2 G181 is poised for another powerful cosmic event. Having already taken one swipe at each other, the two clusters within are once again on a collision course.
News Media Contact
Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center
Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998
mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jun 04, 2025 Related Terms
Chandra X-Ray Observatory Galaxies Galaxy clusters Marshall Astrophysics Marshall Space Flight Center The Universe
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