Wide-field image of the area around the Meathook galaxy (ground-based image): This wide-field view from the Digitized Sky Survey shows the neighbourhood of the Meathook Galaxy (NGC 2442). A closer, more detailed view of the galaxy can be seen in an image from the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, and Hubble has made a close-up observation of one of the galaxy’s spiral arms.

Name: NGC 2442
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Volans
Distance: 55 million light years
Release date: 4 May 2011, 12:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble & Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

The Meathook galaxy, NGC 2442, in the constellation of Volans: This chart shows the location of the peculiar spiral galaxy NGC 2442  within the constellation of Volans (The Flying Fish). This map shows  most of the stars visible to the unaided eye under good conditions and  the galaxy itself is marked as a small red ellipse surrounded by a red  circle. This galaxy can be easily seen with a moderate-sized telescope.

Name: NGC 2442
Type: Milky Way : Sky Phenomenon : Night Sky : Constellation
Category: Stars
Release date: 4 May 2011, 12:00
Credit: ESO, IAU and Sky & Telescope

A star formation laboratory: Galaxy NGC 4214, pictured here in an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s newest camera, is an ideal location to study star formation and evolution. Dominating much of the galaxy is a huge glowing cloud of hydrogen gas in which new stars are being born. A heart-shaped hollow — possibly galaxy NGC 4214’s most eye-catching feature — can be seen at the centre of this. Inside this cavity lies a large cluster of massive, young stars ranging in temperature from 10 000 to 50 000 degrees Celsius. Their strong stellar winds are responsible for the creation of this bubble. These features have the effect of stemming any further star formation due to the subsequent lack of gas.

Name: NGC 4214
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Size : Dwarf
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Canes Venatici
Distance: 10 million light years
Release date: 12 May 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Acknowledgment: R. O’Connell (University of Virginia) and the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee

Wide-field view of NGC 4214 (ground-based image): This ground-based image of the area around NGC 4214 shows this dwarf irregular galaxy in its context. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made a close-up image of the galaxy which reveals more detail, including evidence of current and recent star formation.

Name: NGC 4214
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Size : Dwarf
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Canes Venatici
Distance: 10 million light years
Release date: 12 May 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2

Spectacular Hubble view of Centaurus A: Centaurus A, also known as NGC 5128, is well known for its dramatic dusty lanes of dark material. Hubble’s new observations, using its most advanced instrument, the Wide Field Camera 3, are the most detailed ever made of this galaxy. They have been combined here in a multi-wavelength image which reveals never-before-seen detail in the dusty portion of the galaxy. As well as features in the visible spectrum, this composite shows ultraviolet light, which comes from young stars, and near-infrared light, which lets us glimpse some of the detail otherwise obscured by the dust.

Name: Centaurus A, NGC 5128
Type: Local Universe : GalaxyLocal Universe : Galaxy : Component : Central Black Hole
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Centaurus
Distance: 11 million light years
Release date: 16 June 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Acknowledgment: R. O’Connell (University of Virginia) and the WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee

X-rays, dark matter and galaxies in cluster Abell 2744: This image combines visible light exposures of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, with X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and a mathematical reconstruction of the location of dark matter. The galaxies in the cluster, while they are the only part that is visible in the optical part of the spectrum, actually only provide around 5% of the mass in the cluster. Hot intracluster gas (shown in pink) is visible through its X-ray emissions, observed by NASA’s Chandra satellite. The blue overlay shows a map of the mass in the cluster. This is reconstructed based on detailed analysis of the way that the cluster bends light from galaxies in the distant background. Evidence of this light bending can be seen in arc-like distortions in parts of this image. Since dark matter makes up the lion’s share of mass in the cluster — around 75% — this blue overlay reveals the location of the otherwise invisible dark matter. Analysis of this data has allowed scientists to observe some strange phenomena in Abell 2744, including a pocket of dark matter with no gas or galaxies, and a clump of galaxies with no associated gas. Astronomers believe that Abell 2744 formed from the simultaneous pile-up of at least four separate clusters.

Name: Abell 2744
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Cosmology
Constellation: Sculptor
Distance: z=0.308 (redshift)
Release date: 22 June 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO, CXC, and D. Coe (STScI)/J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna)

Pandora’s Cluster — The merging galaxy cluster Abell 2744: This image of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 combines data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, with an image taken with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Hubble provides the central, most detailed part of the image, while the VLT, which has a wider field of view, provides the outer parts of the image. This object has been nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster because of the many different and strange phenomena that were unleashed by a huge collision that occurred over a period of 350 million years. A simultaneous pile-up between at least four separate clusters has produced strange effects that have never been seen together before.

Name: Abell 2744
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Sculptor
Distance: z=0.308 (redshift)
Release date: 22 June 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO and D. Coe (STScI)/J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna)

Hubble view of Abell 2744 — Pandora’s Cluster: This Hubble image, taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys, shows the central part of merging galaxy cluster Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster. This remarkable object seems to be the result of the collision of at least four separate galaxy clusters.

Name: Abell 2744
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Sculptor
Distance: z=0.308 (redshift)
Release date: 22 June 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA and D. Coe (STScI)/J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna)

Very Large Telescope view of Abell 2744 — Pandora’s Cluster: This image, made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows a wide view of merging galaxy cluster Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster. This remarkable object seems to be the result of the collision of at least four separate galaxy clusters.

Name: Abell 2744
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Cosmology
Constellation: Sculptor
Distance: z=0.308 (redshift)
Release date: 22 June 2011, 15:00
Credit: ESO and D. Coe (STScI)/J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna)