Globular clusters within Abell 1689: This new image of galaxy cluster Abell 1689 shows the region of sky in stunning detail, capturing the glowing golden clumps, bright stars, ethereal spiral galaxies, and electric blue arcs peppered throughout the frame. Abell 1689 is one of the biggest and most massive galaxy clusters known – so massive that it warps the space around it, bending and enhancing the light from galaxies lying far beyond it like a cosmic magnifying glass. But there is more going on here than initially meets the eye. Peering deep into the heart of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope recently spied some 10 000 globular clusters. From this, the astronomers estimate that this galaxy cluster could possibly contain over 160 000 globulars overall, the largest population ever found in such a cluster. By comparison, our  galaxy, the Milky Way, hosts about 150 such clusters. By studying  the globular clusters within this massive and distant  galaxy cluster, the astronomers also found  that these globulars are reliable  tracers of the amount of dark matter  contained within galaxy clusters like Abell 1689. Globular clusters are dense collections of hundreds of thousands of stars – some of the oldest surviving stars in the Universe. The image on the left, taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), shows the numerous galaxies that make up Abell 1689. The box near the centre outlines one of the regions sampled by Hubble, containing a rich collection of globular clusters. The view on the right zooms into the region of this cluster that has been found to be packed with globular clusters. They appear as thousands of tiny white dots, like a blizzard of snowflakes. The larger white blobs are entire galaxies full of stars.

Name: Abell 1689, Virgo Cluster
Type: Early Universe : Star : Grouping : ClusterEarly Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally Lensed
Category: Star Clusters
Distance: 2 billion light years
Release date: 12 September 2013, 17:00
Credit: Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Blakeslee (NRC Herzberg Astrophysics Program, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory), and K. Alamo-Martinez (National Autonomous University of Mexico)Acknowledgment: H. Ford (JHU)

A snapshot of Abell 1689's globular clusters: Peering deep into the heart of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope recently spied some 10 000 globular clusters. From this, the astronomers estimate that this galaxy cluster could possibly contain over 160 000 globulars overall, the largest population ever found. By comparison, our  galaxy, the Milky Way, hosts about 150 such clusters. Globular clusters are dense collections of hundreds of thousands of stars – some of the oldest surviving stars in the Universe. This view zooms into the region of this cluster that has been found to be packed with globular clusters. They appear as thousands of tiny white dots, like a blizzard of snowflakes. The larger white blobs are entire galaxies full of stars.

Name: Abell 1689, Virgo Cluster
Type: Early Universe : Star : Grouping : ClusterEarly Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally Lensed
Category: Star Clusters
Constellation: Virgo
Distance: 2 billion light years
Release date: 12 September 2013, 17:00
Credit: Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Blakeslee (NRC Herzberg Astrophysics Program, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory), and K. Alamo-Martinez (National Autonomous University of Mexico)Acknowledgment: H. Ford (JHU)

Hubble image of PGC 6240: The beautiful, petal-like shells of galaxy PGC 6240 are captured here in intricate detail by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, set against a sky full of distant background galaxies. PGC 6240 is an elliptical galaxy approximately 350 000 000 light years away in the southern constellation of Hydrus (The Water Snake). It is orbited by a number of globular clusters that contain both young and old stars — thought to be a result of a galactic merger in the recent past.

Name: PGC 6240
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Elliptical
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Hydrus
Distance: 350 million light years
Release date: 10 October 2013, 14:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASAAcknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

Wide field image of PGC 6240 (ground-based image): This image from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) shows elliptical galaxy PGC 6240 and its surroundings.

Name: PGC 6240
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Elliptical
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Hydrus
Distance: 350 million light years
Release date: 10 October 2013, 14:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2

Hubble views extraordinary multi-tailed asteroid P/2013 P5: These NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images reveal a never-before seen set of six comet-like tails radiating from a body in the asteroid belt and designated P/2013 P5. The asteroid was discovered as an unusually fuzzy looking object by astronomers using the Pan-STARRS survey telescope in Hawaii. The multiple tails were discovered in Hubble images taken on 10 September 2013. When Hubble returned to the asteroid on 23 September its appearance had totally changed — it looked as if the entire structure had swung around. One interpretation is that the asteroid's rotation rate has increased to the point where dust is falling off the surface and escaping into space, where it is swept out into tails by the pressure of sunlight. According to this theory, the asteroid's spin has been accelerated by the gentle push of sunlight. Based on an analysis of the tail structure, the object has ejected dust for at least five months. These visible-light images were taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. P/2013 P5 is seen on the left as viewed on 10 September 2013, and on the right as seen on 23 September 2013.

Name: P/2013 P5
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet : Tail : DustSolar System : Interplanetary Body : Asteroid
Category: Solar System
Release date: 7 November 2013, 17:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Jewitt (University of California, Los Angeles), J. Agarwal (Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research), H. Weaver (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), M. Mutchler (STScI), and S. Larson (University of Arizona)

Labelled view of extraordinary multi-tailed asteroid P/2013 P5: These NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images reveal a never-before seen set of six comet-like tails radiating from a body in the asteroid belt designated P/2013 P5. P/2013 P5 is seen on the left as viewed on 10 September 2013, and on the right as seen on 23 September 2013. The asteroid was discovered as an unusually fuzzy looking object by astronomers using the Pan-STARRS survey telescope in Hawaii. The multiple tails were discovered in Hubble images taken on September 10 2013. When Hubble returned to the asteroid on 23 September its appearance had totally changed – it looked as if the entire structure had swung around. The location of each of the tails is indicated by an arrow, showing clearly how they change over time. The Sun is located to the top right of each frame. One interpretation is that the asteroid's rotation rate has increased to the point where dust is falling off the surface and escaping into space, where the pressure of sunlight sweeps it out into tails. According to this theory, the asteroid's spin has been accelerated by the gentle push of sunlight. Based on analysis of the tail structure, the object has ejected dust for at least five months. These visible light images were taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.

Name: P/2013 P5
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet : Tail : DustSolar System : Interplanetary Body : Asteroid
Category: Solar System
Release date: 7 November 2013, 17:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Jewitt (University of California, Los Angeles), J. Agarwal (Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research), H. Weaver (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), M. Mutchler (STScI), and S. Larson (University of Arizona)