NGC 6791: three stellar ages illustration: This illustration explains the three stellar ages of NGC 6791.

Name: NGC 6791
Type: Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Open
Category: Stars
Distance: 13000 light years
Release date: 10 July 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)

Hubble Surveys Barred Spiral Galaxies: These images show four spiral galaxies with bars of stars and gas slicing through them. The galaxies are at various distances from Earth. The galaxy at upper left is 2.1 billion light-years away; the galaxy at upper right, 3.8 billion light-years away; the galaxy at lower left, 5.3 billion light-years away; and the galaxy at lower right, 6.4 billion light-years away. The galaxies are part of a landmark study of more than 2,000 spiral galaxies from the largest galaxy census conducted by the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The survey's results show that so-called barred spiral galaxies were far less plentiful over the last 7 billion years than they are today, in the local universe. The study's results confirm the idea that bars are a sign of galaxies reaching full maturity as the "formative years" end. The observations are part of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). COSMOS covers an area of sky nine times larger than the full Moon, surveying 10 times more spiral galaxies than previous observations. Astronomers assembled these images from observations taken with Hubble and the Subaru Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The observations were taken between fall 2003 and spring 2005.

Name: COSMOS 1161898, COSMOS 1705033, COSMOS 2607238, COSMOS 3127341
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : SpiralEarly Universe : Galaxy : Type : Barred
Category: Galaxies
Release date: 29 July 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Sheth (Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California), and P. Capak and N. Scoville (California Institute of Technology)

COSMOS Barred Spiral Galaxy 3127341: Barred spiral galaxy 3127341 is located 2.1 billion light-years away from Earth. The galaxy is part of a landmark study of more than 2,000 spiral galaxies from the largest galaxy census conducted by the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The observations are part of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). Astronomers assembled this image from observations taken between fall 2003 and spring 2005 with Hubble and the Subaru Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Name: COSMOS 3127341
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : SpiralEarly Universe : Galaxy : Type : Barred
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Sextans
Release date: 29 July 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Sheth (Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California), and P. Capak and N. Scoville (California Institute of Technology)

COSMOS Barred Spiral Galaxy 1705033: Barred spiral galaxy 1705033 is located 3.8 billion light-years away from Earth. The galaxy is part of a landmark study of more than 2,000 spiral galaxies from the largest galaxy census conducted by the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The observations are part of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). Astronomers assembled this image from observations taken between fall 2003 and spring 2005 with Hubble and the Subaru Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Name: COSMOS 1705033
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : SpiralEarly Universe : Galaxy : Type : Barred
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Sextans
Release date: 29 July 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Sheth (Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California), and P. Capak and N. Scoville (California Institute of Technology)

COSMOS Barred Spiral Galaxy 1161898: Barred spiral galaxy 1161898 is located 5.3 billion light-years away from Earth.  The galaxy is part of a landmark study of more than 2,000 spiral galaxies from the largest galaxy census conducted by the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The observations are part of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). Astronomers assembled this image from observations taken between fall 2003 and spring 2005 with Hubble and the Subaru Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Name: COSMOS 1161898
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : SpiralEarly Universe : Galaxy : Type : Barred
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Sextans
Release date: 29 July 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Sheth (Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California), and P. Capak and N. Scoville (California Institute of Technology)

COSMOS Barred Spiral Galaxy 2607238: Barred spiral galaxy 2607238 is located 6.4 billion light-years away from Earth. The galaxy is part of a landmark study of more than 2,000 spiral galaxies from the largest galaxy census conducted by the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The observations are part of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). Astronomers assembled this image from observations taken between fall 2003 and spring 2005 with Hubble and the Subaru Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Name: COSMOS 2607238
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : SpiralEarly Universe : Galaxy : Type : Barred
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Sextans
Release date: 29 July 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Sheth (Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California), and P. Capak and N. Scoville (California Institute of Technology)

Galaxy Silhouettes: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a rare alignment between two spiral galaxies. The outer rim of a small, foreground galaxy is silhouetted in front of a larger background galaxy. Skeletal tentacles of dust can be seen extending beyond the small galaxy's disk of starlight. From ground-based telescopes, the two galaxies look like a single blob. But the Advanced Camera's sharp "eye" distinguished the blob as two galaxies, cataloged as 2MASX J00482185-2507365. The images were taken on 19 September, 2006.

Name: 2MASX J00482185-2507365, LEDA 198197
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Sculptor
Distance: 800 million light years
Release date: 16 September 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Hubble image of NGC 3324: Located in the Southern Hemisphere, NGC 3324 is at the northwest corner of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), home of the Keyhole Nebula and the active, outbursting star Eta Carinae. The entire Carina Nebula complex is located at a distance of roughly 7,200 light-years, and lies in the constellation Carina. This image is a composite of data taken with two of Hubble's science instruments. Data taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in 2006 isolated light emitted by hydrogen. More recent data, taken in 2008 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), isolated light emitted by sulfur and oxygen gas. To create a color composite, the data from the sulfur filter are represented by red, from the oxygen filter by blue, and from the hydrogen filter by green.

Name: Carina Nebula, NGC 3324
Type: Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Star Clusters
Constellation: Carina
Distance: 7500 light years
Release date: 2 October 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)