First Direct Measurements of Atmosphere on World Around Another Star (artist's impression): Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have made the first direct detection of the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a star outside our solar system. Their unique observations demonstrate that it is possible with Hubble and other telescopes to measure the chemical makeup of alien planet atmospheres and to potentially search for the chemical markers of life beyond Earth. The planet orbits a yellow, Sun-like star called HD 209458, located 150 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus.

Name: HD 209458
Type: Milky Way : Planet : Feature : AtmosphereMilky Way : Star
Category: Solar System
Distance: 150 light years
Release date: 27 November 2001, 19:00
Credit: G. Bacon (STScI/AVL)

A Giant Star Factory in Neighboring Galaxy NGC 6822: Resembling curling flames from a campfire, this magnificent nebula in a neighboring galaxy is giving astronomers new insight into the fierce birth of stars, which may have been more a typical occurrence in the early universe. The glowing gas cloud, called Hubble-V, has a diameter of about 200 light-years. A faint tail of gas trailing off the top of this Hubble Space Telescope image sits opposite a dense cluster of bright stars at the bottom of the irregularly shaped nebula.

Name: Barnard's Galaxy, Hubble-V, IRAS 19421-1455, NGC 6822
Type: Local Universe : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Sagittarius
Distance: 2 million light years
Release date: 6 December 2001, 06:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Thackeray's globules in IC 2944: Strangely glowing dark clouds float serenely in this remarkable and beautiful image taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. These dense, opaque dust clouds - known as 'globules' - are silhouetted against nearby bright stars in the busy star-forming region, IC 2944. Astronomer A.D. Thackeray first spied the globules in IC 2944 in 1950. Globules like these have been known since Dutch-American astronomer Bart Bok first drew attention to such objects in 1947. But astronomers still know very little about their origin and nature, except that they are generally associated with areas of star formation, called 'HII regions' due to the presence of hydrogen gas. IC 2944 is filled with gas and dust that is illuminated and heated by a loose cluster of massive stars. These stars are much hotter and much more massive than our Sun.

Name: IC 2944, Thackeray's Globules
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star FormationMilky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Dark : Bok Globule
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Centaurus
Distance: 6500 light years
Release date: 3 January 2002, 06:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Stellar 'Fireworks Finale' Came First in the Young Universe (artist's impression): The deepest views of the cosmos from the Hubble Space Telescope yield clues that the very first stars may have burst into the universe as brilliantly and spectacularly as a fireworks finale. Except in this case, the finale came first, long before Earth, the Sun and the Milky Way Galaxy formed. Studies of Hubble's deepest views of the heavens lead to the preliminary conclusion that the universe made a significant portion of its stars in a torrential firestorm of star birth, which abruptly lit up the pitch-dark heavens just a few hundred million years after the 'big bang, ' the tremendous explosion that created the cosmos. Though stars continue to be born today in galaxies, the star birth rate could be a trickle compared to the predicted gusher of stars in those opulent early years.

Name: HDF, HDF-S, Hubble Deep Field, Hubble Deep Field South
Type: Early Universe : Cosmology : Morphology : Deep Field
Category: Cosmology
Release date: 8 January 2002, 20:00
Credit: A. Schaller (STScI)

Hubble Shot of I Zw 18: The galaxy resides 30 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The observation was made in November 1994 and March 1995. The bright dots scattered throughout the image represent clusters of stars.

Name: I Zw 18
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : IrregularLocal Universe : Galaxy : Size : Dwarf
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 300 million light years
Release date: 8 January 2002, 20:00
Credit: D. Hunter (Lowell Observ.) and A. Aloisi (JHU)

Back Spin Galaxy: Astronomers have found a spiral galaxy that may be spinning to the beat of a different cosmic drummer. To the surprise of astronomers, the galaxy, called NGC 4622, appears to be rotating in the opposite direction to what they expected. Pictures from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope helped astronomers determine that the galaxy may be spinning clockwise by showing which side of the galaxy is closer to Earth. This Hubble telescope photo of the oddball galaxy is presented by the Hubble Heritage team. The image shows NGC 4622 and its outer pair of winding arms full of new stars [shown in blue].

Name: NGC 4622
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Centaurus
Distance: 200 million light years
Release date: 7 February 2002, 06:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Relationship of the Kuiper Belt to the Oort Cloud: This illustration shows that the Kuiper Belt is shaped like a disk [see inset diagram] and resides within the shell-like structure of the Oort Cloud. Located on the outskirts of the solar system, the Kuiper Belt is a "junkyard" of countless icy bodies left over from the solar system's formation. The Oort Cloud is a vast shell of billions of comets. The inset diagram compares Pluto's orbit with a Kuiper Belt binary object called 1998 WW31. The Kuiper Belt [the fuzzy disk] extends from inside Pluto's orbit to the edge of the solar system.

Name: Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body
Category: IllustrationsSolar System
Release date: 17 April 2002, 20:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and A. Feild (Space Telescope Science Institute)

The Orbit of 1998 WW31 in the Kuiper Belt: This illustration compares the orbit of the binary Kuiper Belt object, called 1998 WW31, with the orbits of Pluto and Neptune, the outermost solar system planets. The inset picture, consisting of six snapshots taken by NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows one member of the Kuiper Belt pair [the faint white blobs] during its elliptical orbit. The bright white object at the bottom of the oval is the other member of the pair.

Name: Kuiper belt object 1998 WW31
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body
Category: Solar System
Release date: 17 April 2002, 20:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and A. Feild ( Space Telescope Science Institute)

A bow shock near a young star: The Hubble Space Telescope continues to reveal various stunning and intricate treasures that reside within the nearby, intense star-forming region known as the Great Nebula in Orion. One such jewel is the bow shock around the very young star, LL Ori, featured in this Hubble Heritage image.

Name: LL Orionis, NGC 1977 510
Type: Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Young Stellar ObjectMilky Way : Star : Type : Variable
Category: Stars
Constellation: Orion
Distance: 1400 light years
Release date: 6 March 2002, 06:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Orion Constellation (ground-based image): Ground-based image of the Constellation of Orion. The Hubble Space Telescope continues to reveal various stunning and intricate treasures that reside within the nearby, intense star-forming region known as the Great Nebula in Orion.

Name: Orion
Type: Milky Way : Sky Phenomenon : Night Sky : Constellation
Category: Stars
Release date: 6 March 2002, 06:00
Credit: Akira Fujii