Nebula NGC 2080, nicknamed the 'Ghost Head Nebula': The 'Ghost Head Nebula' is one of a chain of star-forming regions lying south of the 30 Doradus nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Two bright regions (the 'eyes of the ghost'), named A1 (left) and A2 (right), are very hot, glowing 'blobs' of hydrogen and oxygen. The bubble in A1 is produced by the hot, intense radiation and powerful stellar wind from a single massive star. A2 has a more complex appearance due to the presence of more dust, and it contains several hidden, massive stars. The massive stars in A1 and A2 must have formed within the last 10 000 years since their natal gas shrouds are not yet disrupted by the powerful radiation of the newly born stars.

Name: Ghost Head Nebula, NGC 2080
Type: Local Universe : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Dorado
Distance: 170000 light years
Release date: 18 October 2001, 15:00
Credit: ESA, NASA, & Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris, France)

Artist's impression of millisecond pulsar and companion: The artist's impression shows the pulsar (seen in blue with two radiation beams) and its bloated red companion star in the globular cluster NGC 6397. Scientists believe that the best explanation for seeing a bloated red star instead of a 'quiet' white dwarf in the system is that the pulsar only recently has been spun up to its current rotation speed of 274 times per second by the gases transferred by the red star. It is the first time such a system has been observed.

Name: PSR J1740-5340
Type: Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Neutron Star : PulsarMilky Way : Star : Grouping : Binary
Category: Stars
Distance: 7000 light years
Release date: 13 February 2002, 15:00
Credit: European Space Agency & Francesco Ferraro (Bologna Astronomical Observatory)

The globular cluster NGC 6397: This ESA/NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 image shows the globular cluster NGC 6397 in the constellation Ara (the Altar). It is composed of six exposures through different filters: violet/indigo (Strvmgren u, 345 nm, 15080 seconds), blue (B, 418 nm, 8580 seconds), dark green (V, 515 nm, 978 seconds), light green (H-alpha, 656 nm, 24180 seconds), red-orange (R, 678 nm, 1538 seconds), and red (I, 839 nm, 978 seconds). The cluster is home to a highly unusual system consisting of a fast spinning pulsar and a bloated red companion star.

Name: NGC 6397
Type: Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: Star Clusters
Constellation: Ara
Distance: 7000 light years
Release date: 13 February 2002, 15:00
Credit: European Space Agency & Francesco Ferraro (Bologna Astronomical Observatory)

Hyperactive galaxy NGC 7673: The galaxy NGC 7673 is located in the constellation of Pegasus at an approximate distance of 150 million light-years. This picture is composed of three images obtained with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on 15 October 1996 and 11 October 1997. The three images were taken through a red filter (800 seconds), a green filter (1200 seconds) and an ultraviolet filter (2300 seconds) - shown in blue. Telltale patches of blue light are signs of the formation of millions of new stars in the tangled spiral galaxy NGC 7673. Each of the bluish areas in this image consists of immense star clusters containing thousands of young stars. These clusters lie on the spiral arms of NGC 7673 and so emphasise its somewhat ragged look. this image, taken form Earth orbit by the ESA/NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 1996 and 1997, also shows two other galaxies seen in the background of the image, to the left and right of NGC 7673. these galaxies are further away and so appear redder, due to their higher redshift, an effect caused by the expansion of the Universe. The youngest blue stars in NGC 7673 are blazing with intense ultraviolet radiation. Each star cluster radiates 100 times more ultraviolet light than the famous Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus), the largest star-forming region known in the local group of galaxies.

Name: IRAS F23251+2318, NGC 7673
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Pegasus
Distance: 150 million light years
Release date: 25 March 2002, 15:00
Credit: European Space Agency & Nicole Homeier (European Southern Observatory and University of Wisconsin-Madison)