Detailed illustration of ACS' abilities (simulation): This is a detailed illustration of how much the Advanced Camera for Surveys will reveal of the young Universe.

Name: ACS Simulation
Type: Early Universe : Cosmology : Morphology : Deep Field
Category: Illustrations
Release date: 15 February 2002, 18:30
Credit: NASA/ESA and the ACS Science Team

ACS I-band: NASA's Servicing Mission 3B for the Hubble Space Telescope will give the orbiting observatory a new camera that will significantly increase Hubble's abilities and enable a broad array of new astronomical discoveries. The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) covers twice the area, has twice the sharpness, and is up to five times more sensitive to light than Hubble's workhorse camera, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The servicing mission will begin on Feb. 28 with the launch of the space shuttle Columbia. The simulated image above depicts how the cosmos will look through the 'eyes' of the ACS (I-band).

Name: ACS
Type: Unspecified : Galaxy
Category: Galaxies
Release date: 15 February 2002, 18:30
Credit: NASA & ESA

Galaxy NGC 2787: Tightly wound, almost concentric, arms of dark dust encircle the bright nucleus of the otherwise nondescript galaxy, NGC 2787, in this image created by the Hubble Heritage team. Astronomer Marcella Carollo (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich) and collaborators used Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 to collect the data in January 1999.

Name: NGC 2787
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : BarredLocal Universe : Galaxy : Type : Lenticular
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 25 million light years
Release date: 4 April 2002, 07:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team

Globular Cluster M4: This panoramic view of the globular cluster M4 was captured by The Kitt Peak National Observatory's 0.9-meter telescope in March 1995. The cluster hosts some highly interesting white dwarfs that can be used to age-date the Universe.

Name: M 4, Messier 4, NGC 6121
Type: Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: CosmologyStar Clusters
Constellation: Scorpius
Distance: 5500 light years
Release date: 24 April 2002, 19:00
Credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF

Globular Cluster M4: Peering deep inside a cluster of several hundred thousand stars, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope uncovered the oldest burned-out stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. Located in the globular cluster M4, these small, dying stars - called white dwarfs - are giving astronomers a fresh reading on one of the biggest questions in astronomy: How old is the universe? The ancient white dwarfs in M4 are about 12 to 13 billion years old. After accounting for the time it took the cluster to form after the big bang, astronomers found that the age of the white dwarfs agrees with previous estimates for the universe's age.

Name: Messier 4, NGC 6121
Type: Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: Star Clusters
Constellation: Scorpius
Distance: 5500 light years
Release date: 24 April 2002, 19:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and H. Richer

Globular Cluster M4: Peering deep inside a cluster of several hundred thousand stars, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope uncovered the oldest burned-out stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. Located in the globular cluster M4, these small, dying stars - called white dwarfs - are giving astronomers a fresh reading on one of the biggest questions in astronomy: How old is the universe? The ancient white dwarfs in M4 are about 12 to 13 billion years old. After accounting for the time it took the cluster to form after the big bang, astronomers found that the age of the white dwarfs agrees with previous estimates for the universe's age.

Name: Messier 4, NGC 6121
Type: Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : White DwarfMilky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: Stars
Constellation: Scorpius
Distance: 5500 light years
Release date: 24 April 2002, 19:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and H. Richer

Birth of Our Galaxy: This is an artist's concept of the early formative years of our Milky Way galaxy, circa 12.7 billion years ago. That long ago, the majestic spiral arms of our galaxy had not yet formed; the sky was a sea of globular star clusters. The bright blue star cluster at center left is among hundreds of primeval globular star clusters that came together to build up the galaxy. This particular cluster survives today as the globular cluster M4 in Scorpius. Astronomers used Hubble to find the oldest burned-out stars - called white dwarfs - in the cluster. The dwarfs serve as 'clocks' for calculating the cluster's age based on temperature. The cluster - chock full young and blue-white stars in this artwork - probably started forming several hundred million years after the big bang. At right of center, the hub of the galaxy is beginning to form. Lanes of dark dust encircle a young supermassive black hole. An extragalactic jet of high-speed material beams into space from the young black hole, which is engorging itself on stars, gas and dust. A string of supernova explosions from the most massive stars in the cluster creates pink bubbles of hot gas around each star cluster.

Name: M 4, Messier 4, NGC 6121
Type: Milky WayMilky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: CosmologyStar Clusters
Release date: 24 April 2002, 19:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and Adolf Schaller

Gaseous streamers flutter in stellar breeze: N44C is the designation for a region of ionized hydrogen gas surrounding an association of young stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a nearby, small companion galaxy to the Milky Way visible from the Southern Hemisphere. N44C is part of the larger N44 complex, which includes young, hot, massive stars, nebulae, and a 'superbubble' blown out by multiple supernova explosions.

Name: LMC N44C
Type: Local Universe : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Dorado
Distance: 150000 light years
Release date: 9 May 2002, 06:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team

IC beauty: The Hubble telescope reveals a rainbow of colours in this dying star, called IC 4406. Like many other so-called planetary nebulae, IC 4406 exhibits a high degree of symmetry. The nebula's left and right halves are nearly mirror images of the other. If we could fly around IC 4406 in a spaceship, we would see that the gas and dust form a vast donut of material streaming outward from the dying star. We don't see the donut shape in this photograph because we are viewing IC 4406 from the Earth-orbiting Hubble telescope. From this vantage point, we are seeing the side of the donut. This side view allows us to see the intricate tendrils of material that have been compared to the eye's retina. In fact, IC 4406 is dubbed the 'Retina Nebula.'

Name: IC 4406, IRAS 14192-4355
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Lupus
Distance: 5000 light years
Release date: 13 June 2002, 06:00
Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA