How far does Hubble see?: This diagram shows how Hubble has revolutionised the study of the distant, early Universe. Before Hubble was launched, ground-based telescopes were able to observe up to a redshift of around 1, about half way back through cosmic history. Hubble’s latest instrument, Wide Field Camera 3 has identified a candidate galaxy at a redshift of 10 — around 96 per cent of the way back to the Big Bang. The forthcoming NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope will see further still.

Name: WFC3
Type: Early Universe
Category: Illustrations
Release date: 26 January 2011, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA

Flocculent spiral NGC 2841: Star formation is one of the most important processes in shaping the Universe; it plays a pivotal role in the evolution of galaxies and it is also in the earliest stages of star formation that planetary systems first appear. Yet there is still much that astronomers don’t understand, such as how do the properties of stellar nurseries vary according to the composition and density of gas present, and what triggers star formation in the first place? The driving force behind star formation is particularly unclear for a type of galaxy called a flocculent spiral, such as NGC 2841 shown here, which features short spiral arms rather than prominent and well-defined galactic limbs.

Name: NGC 2841
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 65 million light years
Release date: 17 February 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration Acknowledgment: M. Crockett and S. Kaviraj (Oxford University, UK), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), B. Whitmore (STScI) and the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee.

Wide-field view of NGC 2841 (ground-based image): This image shows the area around flocculent spiral galaxy NGC 2841. It is produced from Digitised Sky Survey 2 images.

Name: NGC 2841
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 65 million light years
Release date: 17 February 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA and the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

Hubble snaps close-up of the Tarantula: Hubble has taken this stunning close-up shot of part of the Tarantula Nebula. This star-forming region of ionised hydrogen gas is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy which neighbours the Milky Way. It is home to many extreme conditions including supernova remnants and the heaviest star ever found. The Tarantula Nebula is the most luminous nebula of its type  in the local Universe.

Name: 30 Doradus, NGC 2060, NGC 2070, Tarantula Nebula
Type: Local Universe : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Dorado
Distance: 170000 light years
Release date: 15 March 2011, 10:00
Credit: NASA, ESA

Wide-field and close-up views of the Tarantula Nebula: This image shows, on the left, a wide-field view of the Tarantula Nebula, a vast stellar nursery in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This was taken with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s site at La Silla, Chile. On the right is a narrower, more detailed view of part of the nebula, observed by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The location of the Hubble image is marked by a square near the centre of the WFI image.

Name: 30 Doradus, Tarantula Nebula
Type: Local Universe : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Distance: 170000 light years
Release date: 15 March 2011, 10:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO

Annotated wide-field view of the Tarantula Nebula (ground-based image): This wide-field view of the Tarantula Nebula was taken with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s site at La Silla, Chile. This view shows the location of the heaviest star ever discovered (RMC 136a1, within the super star cluster RMC 136), the closest supernova to Earth to have been observed since the invention of the telescope (SN 1987a), plus the remnants of another supernova (NGC 2060). The Tarantula Nebula is the brightest nebula of its type in the local Universe.

Name: 30 Doradus, Tarantula Nebula
Type: Local Universe : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Distance: 170000 light years
Release date: 15 March 2011, 10:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO

Wide-field view of the Tarantula Nebula and its surroundings (ground-based image): This ground-based view of the Tarantula Nebula shows the nebula in its entirety. It is the brightest region of star formation in the local Universe. Hubble’s field of view covers just a tiny spot in the upper-right quadrant of this image, though it reveals detail invisible here, including a supernova remnant.

Name: 30 Doradus, NGC 2060, NGC 2070, SN 1987A, Tarantula Nebula
Type: Early Universe : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Dorado
Release date: 15 March 2011, 10:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

Lensing cluster Abell 383: The giant galaxy cluster in the centre of this image contains so much dark matter mass that its gravity bends the light of more distant objects. This means that for very distant galaxies in the background, the cluster’s gravitational field acts as a sort of magnifying glass, bending and concentrating the distant object’s light towards Hubble. These gravitational lenses are one tool astronomers can use to extend Hubble’s vision beyond what it would normally be capable of observing. This way some of the very first galaxies in the Universe can be studied by astronomers. The lensing effect can also be used to determine the distribution of matter — both ordinary and dark matter — within the cluster.

Name: Abell 383
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Cosmology
Constellation: Eridanus
Distance: z=0.187 (redshift)
Release date: 12 April 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Richard (CRAL) and J.-P. Kneib (LAM). Acknowledgement: Marc Postman (STScI)

Annotated view of Abell 383: The giant cluster of elliptical galaxies in the centre of this image contains so much dark matter mass that its gravitational field bends light. This means that for very distant galaxies in the background, the cluster acts as a sort of magnifying glass, bending and concentrating the distant object’s light towards Hubble. These gravitational lenses are one tool astronomers can use to extend Hubble’s vision beyond what it would normally be capable of seeing. Using Abell 383, a team of astronomers have identified and studied a galaxy so far away we see it as it was less than a billion years after the Big Bang. It is visible as two tiny dots (labelled) on either side of the bright cluster galaxy in the centre. Distant objects seen through gravitational lenses are typically multiply imaged and heavily distorted. Viewing this galaxy through the gravitational lens meant that the scientists were able to discern many intriguing features that would otherwise have remained hidden, including that its stars were unexpectedly old for a galaxy this close in time to the beginning of the Universe. This has profound implications for our understanding of how and when the first galaxies formed, and how the diffuse fog of neutral hydrogen that filled the early Universe was cleared.

Name: Abell 383
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Distance: z=0.187 (redshift)
Release date: 12 April 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Richard (CRAL) and J.-P. Kneib (LAM). Acknowledgement: Marc Postman (STScI)