Distribution of light and mass in Abell 1689: This image shows (to the left) the visible matter in galaxy cluster Abell 1689 along with the distorted background galaxies clearly visible. These galaxies are distorted both by the mass in the gravitational lens and the effect of dark energy on the geometry of the Universe. To the right the mass distribution of the dark matter in the gravitational lens is shown in purple. The visible matter and dark matter together form the gravitational lens.

Name: Abell 1689
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Supercluster
Category: Galaxies
Distance: z=0.183 (redshift)
Release date: 19 August 2010, 20:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, E. Jullo (JPL/LAM), P. Natarajan (Yale) and J-P. Kneib (LAM).

Waves breaking in the stellar lagoon: This close-up shot of the centre of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) clearly shows the delicate structures formed when the powerful radiation of young stars interacts with the hydrogen cloud they formed from. This image was created from exposures taken with the Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys on Hubble. Light from glowing hydrogen (through the F658N filter) is coloured red. Light from ionised nitrogen (through the F660N filter) is coloured green and light through a yellow filter (F550M) is coloured blue. The exposure times through each filter are 1560 s, 1600 s and 400 s respectively. The blue-white flare at the upper-left of the image is scattered light from a bright star just outside the field of view. The field of view is about 3.3 by 1.7 arcminutes.

Name: Lagoon Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Sagittarius
Distance: 5000 light years
Release date: 22 September 2010, 14:00
Credit: NASA, ESA.

Hubble captures aftermath of asteroid collision: This series of images taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 clearly shows the slow evolution of the debris coming from asteroid P/2010 A2, which is thought to be due to a collision with a smaller asteroid. When astronomers first spotted the unusual X shape, they assumed that they were observing the immediate aftermath of an impact. However, the slower than anticipated rate of change in the appearance of the debris suggests that the collision in fact took place about a year earlier than the first observations. These seven exposures were taken between January and May 2010 while the asteroid was rapidly receding from Earth. As the asteroid gets further away from us, we are able to see more of its comet-like tail in each subsequent frame. In the top picture, the portion of the tail we see is around 50 000 kilometres long. In the bottom picture, we see around 85 000 kilometres. For all images, the field of view remains about 75 arcseconds across. The images were taken in visible light (filter F606W) and artificially coloured blue.

Name: P/2010 A2 (LINEAR)
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Asteroid
Category: Solar System
Release date: 13 October 2010, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA and D. Jewitt (UCLA)

Using Hubble to chart the future motions of stars within a cluster: The multi-colour snapshot (top), taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, captures the central region of the giant globular cluster Omega Centauri. All the stars in the image are moving in random directions, like a swarm of bees. Astronomers used Hubble’s exquisite resolving power to measure positions for stars in 2002 and 2006. From these measurements, they can predict the stars’ future movement. The lower illustration charts the future positions of the stars highlighted by the white box in the top image. Each streak represents the motion of the stars over the next 600 years. The motion between the dots corresponds to 30 years.

Name: NGC 5139, Omega Centauri
Type: Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: Star Clusters
Distance: 15000 light years
Release date: 26 October 2010, 15:05
Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Anderson and R. van der Marel (STScI)

Hubble spots a celestial bauble: This delicate shell, photographed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, appears to float serenely in the depths of space, but this apparent calm hides an inner turmoil. The gaseous envelope formed as the expanding blast wave and ejected material from a supernova tore through the nearby interstellar medium. Called SNR B0509-67.5 (or SNR 0509 for short), the bubble is the visible remnant of a powerful stellar explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small galaxy about 160 000 light-years from Earth. Ripples in the shell’s surface may be caused either by subtle variations in the density of the ambient interstellar gas, or possibly be driven from the interior by fragments from the initial explosion. The bubble-shaped shroud of gas is 23 light-years across and is expanding at more than 18 million km/h. Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys observed the supernova remnant on 28 October 2006 with a filter that isolates light from the glowing hydrogen seen in the expanding shell. These observations were then combined with visible-light images of the surrounding star field that were imaged with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 on 4 November 2010.

Name: SNR B0509-67.5
Type: Local Universe : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Dorado
Distance: 150000 light years
Release date: 14 December 2010, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Acknowledgement: J. Hughes (Rutgers University)

Hubble and Chandra spot a celestial bauble: This delicate shell, photographed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, appears to float serenely in the depths of space, but this apparent calm hides an inner turmoil. The gaseous envelope formed as the expanding blast wave and ejected material from a supernova tore through the nearby interstellar medium. Called SNR B0509-67.5 (or SNR 0509 for short), the bubble is the visible remnant of a powerful stellar explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small galaxy about 160 000 light-years from Earth. Ripples in the shell’s surface may be caused either by subtle variations in the density of the ambient interstellar gas, or possibly be driven from the interior by fragments from the initial explosion. The bubble-shaped shroud of gas is 23 light-years across and is expanding at more than 18 million km/h. Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys observed the supernova remnant on 28 October 2006 with a filter that isolates light from the glowing hydrogen seen in the expanding shell. These observations were then combined with visible-light images of the surrounding star field that were imaged with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 on 4 November 2010, and archival X-ray observations taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Name: SNR B0509-67.5
Type: Local Universe : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Dorado
Distance: 150000 light years
Release date: 14 December 2010, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Hughes

Hubble with spectra from the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility: This image of Hubble is set against a background of hundreds of unique slitless spectra obtained by Hubble. The Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF) was heavily involved in the development of slitless spectroscopy, which is used to study some of the faintest and most distant objects in the Universe. The ST-ECF is closing at the end of 2010, after 26 successful years.

Name: Hubble Space Telescope
Type: Solar System : Technology : Observatory : Telescope
Category: Spacecraft
Release date: 17 December 2010, 15:00
Credit: ESA/ST-ECF and NASA