The Hubble telescope is 35 years old, its latest most dazzling photos
Mars, nebula of La Rosette, NGC 2899 and the “prohibited” spiral galaxy 5335, all these views are from Hubble. © NASA, ESA, STSCI; Image processing: Joseph Depasquale (STSCI), Alyssa Pagan (STSCI)
In a fairly dark context where the budgetary blows wanted by the Trump administration to NASA strongly worry about the future of the future telescope Nancy Grace Roman and the current scientific star of the sector, the James Webb Space Telescopethe veteran Hubble celebrates his 35th anniversary of service with a publication of recent sumptuous photos on four very different celestial objects.
Mars, object of fantasies and lusts, last December
March, close to his opposition at 5 p.m. intervals. © NASA/ESA
The NASA telescope photographed Mars when it was almost as close as possible to Earth (period called “opposition”), just under 100 million kilometers from our eyes. The two shots make it possible to clearly distinguish the northern polar cap and many clouds.
The ngc 2337 star nursery, called the Rosette nebula
Zoom on bands of dust in the rosette nebula. © NASA/ESA
This splendor is called the nebula of the Rosette, we see in the center, where the gas is lacking, a group of young stars that are recognized by their blue color: they were born quite recently. This Hii region of ionized hydrogen is around 4700 light years in the Constellation of the Unicorn. Hubble has zoomed out on a very dusty part that we see in the medium in the photo.
Zoom in the rosette on strips of black dust. © NASA/ESA
A kind of cosmic butterfly marks the death of a star
This so -called “planetary” nebula shows the death of a star. © NASA/ESA
In the southern constellation of the sails, we can see what remains of a star of a mass relatively comparable to that of the sun. This star has exhausted its fuel (hydrogen, helium) and after having become a red giant, gravity compressed it until it expels its gas layers, the very ones that form this pareidolia letting a butterfly, or a cosmic mite imagined. Generally red shows hydrogen and blue helium.
The “prohibited” spiral galaxy, NGC 5335
This spiral galaxy has a very marked central bar, hence its nickname “prohibited”. © NASA/ESA
This massive galaxy is located at 240 million light years in the virgin constellation. It is, like the Milky Way, a barred spiral galaxy, but its central bar is extremely marked, which earned it its nickname “prohibited”.
And to say that Hubble had started so badly
A galaxy taken by hubble before correction (left) and after correction of his mirror. © Science.Nasa.Gov
For the anecdote, the primary mirror of the Hubble telescope had a design defect and the international community, particularly at NASA, had been dismayed to see the first photos taken by the orbit telescope, which were not better than what was obtained on the ground with good professional telescopes.
It had taken maintenance in orbit to correct this defect, something which was possible because Hubble is only 550 km from the earth, unlike for example in James-Webb, more than a million kilometers of us!
