Hubble's sharpest image of the Orion Nebula with proplyd highlights: The gorgeous Orion Nebula is home to tens of what could be fledgling planetary systems. In this image, six of these modest "smudges" with big potential are highlighted (from top down): 132-1832, 206-446, 180-331, 106-417, 231-838 and 181-825. Within the awe-inspiring, gaseous folds of Orion, researchers have identified two different types of discs around young and forming stars: those that lie close to the brightest star in the cluster (Theta 1 Orionis C) and those farther away from it. This bright star heats up the gas in the nearby discs, causing them to shine brightly. The discs that are farther away do not receive enough of the energetic radiation from the star to set the gas ablaze; thus, they can only be detected as a dark silhouette against the background of the bright nebula, as the dust that surrounds these discs absorbs background visible light. In these silhouetted discs, astronomers are better able to study the properties of the dust grains that are thought to bind together and possibly form planets like our own. The brighter discs are indicated by a glowing cusp in the excited material and facing the bright star, but which we see at a random orientation within the nebula, so some appear edge on, and others face on, for instance. Other interesting features enhance the look of these captivating objects, such as emerging jets of matter and shock waves. The dramatic shock waves are formed when the stellar wind from the nearby massive star collides with the gas in the nebula, sculpting boomerang shapes or arrows or even, in the case of 181-825, a space jellyfish!

Name: Messier 42, Orion Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : ProtoplanetaryMilky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Distance: 1400 light years
Release date: 14 December 2009, 16:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA), the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team and L. Ricci (ESO)

ACS image of Messier 30: This brilliant image of Messier 30 (M 30) was taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Messier 30 formed 13 billion years ago and was discovered in 1764 by Charles Messier. Located about 28 000 light-years away from Earth, this globular cluster — a dense swarm of several hundred thousand stars — is about 90 light-years across. Although globular clusters such as this one are mainly populated by old stars, the crowded field of stars leads to some old stars apparently reclaiming their youth in the form of blue stragglers. Researchers using data from Hubble's now-retired Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) have identified two types of blue stragglers in Messier 30: those that form in near head-on collisions with one another and those that are in twin (or binary) systems where the less massive star siphons "life-giving" hydrogen from its more massive companion.

Name: Messier 30
Type: Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: Star Clusters
Constellation: Capricornus
Distance: 28000 light years
Release date: 23 December 2009, 19:00
Credit: NASA/ ESA

The formation of blue stragglers: This illustration demonstrates the two ways that blue stragglers — or "rejuvenated" stars — in globular clusters form. The upper illustration shows the collision model where two low-mass stars in an overcrowded environment experience a head-on collision, combining their fuel and mass and to form a single hot star. The lower illustration depicts the "vampire" model consisting of a pair of stars that undergo a transformation, with the lower-mass star draining its larger-mass companion of hydrogen that fuels its rebirth.

Name: Messier 30
Type: Milky Way : Star : Type : Blue StragglerMilky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: Stars
Distance: 28000 light years
Release date: 23 December 2009, 19:00
Credit: NASA/ ESA

Wide-field view of Messier 30 (ground-based image): This wide-field image of the sky around the globular cluster Messier 30 was created from photographs forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Located about 28 000 light-years away from Earth, this cluster — a swarm of several hundred thousand stars — is about 90 light-years across. The field of view is approximately 2.9 degrees across.

Name: Messier 30
Type: Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: Star Clusters
Constellation: Capricornus
Distance: 28000 light years
Release date: 23 December 2009, 19:00
Credit: ESO and Digitized Sky Survey 2Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin

Early galaxies in HUDF WFC3/IR, close up 1: This Hubble image taken by the observatory’s new Wide Field Camera 3 in Infrared highlights some of the oldest galaxies ever seen.

Name: Hubble Ultra Deep Field
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Fornax
Release date: 5 January 2010, 16:30
Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (UCO/Lick Observatory and University of California, Santa Cruz) and the HUDF09 Team

Early galaxies in HUDF WFC3/IR, close up 2: This Hubble image taken by the observatory's new Wide Field Camera 3 in infrared light highlights some of the oldest galaxies ever seen.

Name: Hubble Ultra Deep Field
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Fornax
Release date: 5 January 2010, 16:30
Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (UCO/Lick Observatory and University of California, Santa Cruz) and the HUDF09 Team