Hubble's black and white view of the Universe: Contained within the most massive and active star-forming region in the nearby galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, star cluster NGC 346 delivers energetic radiation that excites nearby gas, causing it to glow. The result is one of the most dynamic and intricately detailed images of a nearby star-forming region that has ever been taken with NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The complexity of the gas and dust that surrounds NGC 346 shows a series of arched, ragged filaments and a distinct ridge created when high-energy radiation from the young, hot stars eats into the denser areas of the nearby interstellar medium. The intricate, dark beaded edge of the ridge, seen from Hubble's perspective in silhouette, contains several small dust globules that point back towards the central cluster. Energetic outflows and radiation from hot young stars are eroding the dense outer portions of the star-forming region, formally known as N66, exposing new stellar nurseries. The diffuse natal parts of the nebula block the energetic outflows from streaming away from the cluster, leaving a series of filaments marking the path of the outflows. This image of NGC 346 and its surrounding star formation was taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys using a filter which isolates light emitted by hydrogen gas. Individual images from Hubble's cameras retain no colour information as such, other than the colour of a filter, which selects a range of wavelengths from the full spectrum of light. A black and white (monochrome) image most realistically represents the range of brightness in such a single image. Colour images may be reconstructed by combining several images made through different filters and assigning a distinct colour to each image. Even without the added colour dimension, the wide range of grey tones in the black and white image reveals a great deal of the nebula's finely detailed structure.

Name: N66, NGC 346
Type: Local Universe : Star : Grouping : ClusterLocal Universe : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: NebulaeStar Clusters
Constellation: Tucana
Distance: 200000 light years
Release date: 10 November 2005, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA and A. Nota (ESA/STScI) (STScI/AURA)

Small Magellanic Cloud  (ground-based image): The two-colour image shows an overview of the full Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and was composed from two images from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The field of view is slightly larger than 3.5›. N66 with the open star cluster NGC346 is the largest of the star-forming regions seen below the centre of the SMC.

Name: Small Magellanic Cloud, SMC
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : IrregularLocal Universe : Galaxy : Size : Dwarf
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Tucana
Distance: 200000 light years
Release date: 10 November 2005, 19:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgements: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble )

Small Magellanic Cloud  (ground-based image): The two-colour image shows an overview of the full Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and was composed from two images from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The field of view is slightly larger than 3.5›. N66 with the open star cluster NGC346 is the largest of the star-forming regions seen below the centre of the SMC.

Name: Small Magellanic Cloud, SMC
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : IrregularLocal Universe : Galaxy : Size : Dwarf
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Tucana
Distance: 200000 light years
Release date: 10 November 2005, 19:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgements: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble )

Small Magellanic Cloud  (ground-based image): The two-colour image shows an overview of the full Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and was composed from two images from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The field of view is slightly larger than 3.5›. N66 with the open star cluster NGC346 is the largest of the star-forming regions seen below the centre of the SMC.

Name: Small Magellanic Cloud, SMC
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : IrregularLocal Universe : Galaxy : Size : Dwarf
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Tucana
Distance: 200000 light years
Release date: 10 November 2005, 19:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgements: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble )

Small Magellanic Cloud  (ground-based image): The two-colour image shows an overview of the full Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and was composed from two images from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The field of view is slightly larger than 3.5›. N66 with the open star cluster NGC346 is the largest of the star-forming regions seen below the centre of the SMC.

Name: Small Magellanic Cloud, SMC
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : IrregularLocal Universe : Galaxy : Size : Dwarf
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Tucana
Distance: 200000 light years
Release date: 10 November 2005, 19:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgements: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble )

Most detailed image of the Crab Nebula: This Hubble image gives the most detailed view of the entire Crab Nebula ever. The Crab is among the most interesting and well studied objects in astronomy. This image is the largest image ever taken with Hubble's WFPC2 camera. It was assembled from 24 individual exposures taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and is the highest resolution image of the entire Crab Nebula ever made.

Name: Crab Nebula, Messier 1
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Taurus
Distance: 6500 light years
Release date: 1 December 2005, 10:00
Credit: NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

Constellation Taurus (ground-based image): The constellation Taurus as photographed by the avid astrophotographer Akira Fujii.

Name: Taurus
Type: Milky Way : Sky Phenomenon : Night Sky : Constellation
Category: Stars
Release date: 1 December 2005, 10:00
Credit: Akira Fujii

Digitized Sky Survey 2 image of the Crab Nebula (ground-based image): This two-colour image shows 2.7 x 2.7 degrees of the surroundings around the Crab Nebula. It was composed from Digitized Sky Survey 2 images.

Name: Crab Nebula, Messier 1
Type: Milky Way : Nebula
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Taurus
Release date: 1 December 2005, 10:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgements: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

Animation still image 1 (artist's impression): Still image from the animation of the 1054 supernova that created the Crab Nebula.

Name: Crab Nebula, Messier 1
Type: Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Supernova
Category: Stars
Distance: 6000 light years
Release date: 1 December 2005, 10:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble