Hubble Space Telescope

Wait for it... Over half a million stars shine in the cluster M3. This is one of our home galaxy's most massive globular clusters, which are spherical collections of gravitationally bound stars. M3 contains two distinct populations of stars, so it may be the result of a merger of two separate globular clusters that were members of the same dwarf galaxy, which was later swallowed up by the Milky Way. Music credit: ""Slice of Pi" by Jeff Knowler [PRS] and Benet Walsh [PRS] via Atmosphere Music Ltd. [PRS] and Universal Production Music Image credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Sarajedini (Florida Atlantic University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) #NASA #Hubble #stars #science #astronomy

Galactic Gems Galore!🌀 Galaxies are cosmic gems — each with characteristics including size and shape that make them distinct. Just as gems reveal the history of the Earth through how they were forged over billions of years, these galactic gems are a way to study our Earth’s place in our home galaxy of the Milky Way. By looking outward to other galaxies, we learn more about our own — including clues to its past and future. A new collection of 16 galactic images combines data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with data from other observatories, including NASA’s Hubble & Webb Space telescopes. Video Description: 00:00 - 00:05 M33: A spiral galaxy depicted in shades of pink and purple, shown almost face-on. The many arms of M33 are wispy and faint, dotted with scores of stars. 00:05 - 00:07 NGC 3938 directly faces us. Packed with clearly defined, glowing, pale blue arms that spiral around a central golden core, and flecked with multicolored specks. 00:07 - 00:10 NGC 1672: At its center are two thick, spiraling, dark purple arms that bridge a brilliant white and neon pink core. Those bridging arms create a bar, which channels gas to the core, like our own Milky Way. Longer, wispier arms also spiral out from the core, dotted with gleaming white and pink stars. 00:10 - 00:15 NGC 1385 resembles a tangle of red and orange veins, highlighted with hints of purple, marbling a grainy grey cloud. Though no clear core is apparent in this depiction, the cloud appears to glow, deep within its center. 00:15 - 00:19 NGC 4725 has a single blue arm which makes two perfect rotations around its small white core. This rather cute galaxy is flecked with tiny specks of light in white, yellow, pink, and blue. 00:19 - 00:25 NGC 4631: A spiral galaxy in blues and purples is viewed from the side, making it appear like a thick, tightly packed, line of stars surrounded by a faint blue haze. 00:25 - 00:30 M82 is an irregular galaxy undergoing intense star formation. Here, thick towers of turbulent fuchsia gas burst from the top and bottom of a pale blue galactic disk. Music Credit: “Space Collision” by Shadows & Echoes Image Credit at: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2

A multi-generational home 🏠 The nebula LH 95 hosts several "generations" of stars, each formed at different times. Because of this rich stellar population, LH 95 is valued by astronomers for providing a way to observe forming stars at a relatively close range, in an environment with less obscuring dust than similar regions of our Milky Way Galaxy. LH 95 resides within a small "satellite" galaxy that orbits the Milky Way, known as the Large Magellanic Cloud. Music credit: "Electric Zen" by Jon Reed [ASCAP] via ZFC Music [SESAC] and Universal Production Music Image credit: NASA, ESA, and N. Da Rio (The University of Virginia), G. De Marchi (European Space Agency - ESTEC), and D. Gouliermis (Universitat Heidelberg); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) #NASA #Hubble #nebula #space #astronomy

Merge ahead ⚠️ Two clusters are merging in this Hubble view, drawn in by their mutual gravity. Known as CL0016+1609, it's a particularly interesting place for researchers. Observing time with Hubble was requested to measure the cluster's dark-matter distribution, which helps them study the merger and the role of CL0016+1609 in the large-scale structure of the universe. Dark matter is like the invisible "scaffolding" of our universe. While Hubble can’t directly see dark matter, its infrared and visible light observations can detect dark matter’s effects on the "normal matter" Hubble observes through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing: where a high concentration of matter is strong enough to bend the path of light coming from behind it. This can be seen as the faint arcs of light throughout CL0016+1609. Music credit: "Underwater Ipanema" by Phillippe Andre Vandenhende [SACEM], Olivier Louis Perrot [SACEM], and Idriess-El-Mehdi Bennani [SACEM] via Sound Pocket Music [PRS] and Universal Production Music Image credit: NASA, ESA, H. Ebeling (University of Hawaii), D. Coe (STScI, ESA, JWST); Image Processing: G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) #NASA #Hubble #galaxy #space #astronomy