Wide field view of MACS 1206 (ground-based image): 

Name: MACS J1206.2-0847
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: CosmologyStars
Constellation: Virgo
Distance: 4 billion light years
Release date: 13 October 2011, 15:00

Gravitationally lensed quasar HE 1104-1805: This picture shows a quasar that has been gravitationally lensed by a galaxy in the foreground, which can be seen as a faint shape around the two bright images of the quasar. Observations of one of the images show variations in colour over time. This is caused by stars within the lens galaxy passing through the path of the light from the quasar, magnifying the light from different parts of the quasar’s accretion disc as they move. This has allowed a team of scientists to reconstruct the colour and temperature profile of the accretion disc with unprecedented precision. The level of detail involved is equivalent to being able to study individual grains of sand on the surface of the Moon while standing on Earth.

Name: HE 1104-1805, [WKK93] G
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGN : QuasarEarly Universe : Cosmology : Phenomenon : Lensing
Category: Quasars and Black Holes
Constellation: Crater
Distance: z=0.73 (redshift)
Release date: 4 November 2011, 10:00
Credit: NASA, ESA and J.A. Muñoz (University of Valencia)

Using gravitational lensing to observe the disc around a black hole: This diagram shows how Hubble is able to observe a quasar, a glowing disc of matter around a distant black hole, even though the black hole would ordinarily be too far away to see clearly. The diagram shows three different locations: on the left, the quasar accretion disc, which is bluer in the centre and redder around the edges; in the centre, a spot in an intermediate galaxy which the quasar’s light is passing through; and on the right, Hubble’s view in orbit around the Earth. The gravity from a star in the intermediate galaxy, as it passes through the beams of light from the quasar, deflects the differently coloured beams one-by-one towards Hubble. The colours seen from Hubble therefore change over time as the star effectively scans across the quasar’s disc. This lets astronomers directly observe the colour, temperature and size of the disc with unprecedented precision.The precision of these observations is equivalent to seeing individual grains of sand on the surface of the Moon.

Name: HE 1104-1805, [WKK93] G
Type: Unspecified : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally Lensed
Category: CosmologyIllustrations
Release date: 4 November 2011, 10:00
Credit: NASA & ESA

Tiny galaxies brimming with star birth: This image reveals 18 tiny galaxies uncovered by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The puny galaxies, shown in the postage-stamp-sized images, existed 9 billion years ago and are brimming with star birth. The dwarf galaxies are typically a hundred times less massive than the Milky Way galaxy but are churning out stars at such a furious pace that their stellar population would double in just 10 million years. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys spied the galaxies in a field called the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). The galaxies' locations in the GOODS field are marked in the large image. The galaxies stood out in the Hubble images because the energy from all the new stars caused the oxygen in the gas surrounding them to light up like a bright fluorescent sign. The rapid star birth likely represents an important phase in the formation of dwarf galaxies, the most common galaxy type in the cosmos. The galaxies are among 69 dwarf galaxies found in the GOODS and other fields. Images of the individual galaxies were taken November 2010 to January 2011. The large image showing the location of the galaxies was taken between September 2002 and December 2004, and between September 2009 and October 2009.

Name: GOODS South Field
Type: Early Universe : Cosmology : Morphology : Deep Field
Category: Cosmology
Release date: 10 November 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. van der Wel (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), H. Ferguson and A. Koekemoer (Space Telescope Science Institute), and the CANDELS team

Hubble spies tiny galaxies aglow with star birth: This image reveals 28 tiny galaxies uncovered by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The puny galaxies, shown in the postage-stamp-sized images, existed 9 billion years ago and are brimming with star birth. The dwarf galaxies are typically a hundred times less massive than the Milky Way galaxy but are churning out stars at such a furious pace that their stellar population would double in just 10 million years. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys spied the galaxies in a field called the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey, or UDS, (part of the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey). The galaxies' locations in the UDS field are marked in the large image. The galaxies stood out in the Hubble images because the energy from all the new stars caused the oxygen in the gas surrounding them to light up like a bright fluorescent sign. The rapid star birth likely represents an important phase in the formation of dwarf galaxies, the most common galaxy type in the cosmos. The galaxies are among 69 dwarf galaxies found in the UDS and other fields. The images were made from observations taken between August and December 2010.

Name: UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey
Type: Early Universe : Cosmology : Morphology : Deep Field
Category: Cosmology
Release date: 10 November 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. van der Wel (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), H. Ferguson and A. Koekemoer (Space Telescope Science Institute), and the CANDELS team

Hubble view of star-forming region S106: This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows Sh 2-106, or S106 for short. This is a compact star forming region in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan). A newly-formed star called S106 IR is shrouded in dust at the centre of the image, and is responsible for the surrounding gas cloud’s hourglass-like shape and the turbulence visible within. Light from glowing hydrogen is coloured blue in this image.

Name: S106 IR, Sh 2-106
Type: Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Young Stellar ObjectMilky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Cygnus
Distance: 3300 light years
Release date: 15 December 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA & ESA

Hubble/Subaru composite of star-forming region S 106: This image shows Sh 2-106, or S106 for short. This is a compact star forming region in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan). A newly-formed star called S106 IR is shrouded in dust at the centre of the image, and is responsible for the surrounding gas cloud’s hourglass-like shape and the turbulence visible within. Light from glowing hydrogen is coloured blue in this image. The image combines observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (in the centre) with images from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s Subaru Telescope to extend the field of view around the edges of the image.

Name: Sh 2-106
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Cygnus
Distance: 3300 light years
Release date: 15 December 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) and NAOJ

Ground-based view of the area around star-forming region S 106: This image shows a ground-based telescope image of the region around star forming region Sh 2-106, or S106 for short. S106 is a compact star-forming region in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan).

Name: Sh 2-106
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Cygnus
Distance: 3300 light years
Release date: 15 December 2011, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2 (Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin)