Himiko (Subaru, Hubble, and Spitzer close-up view): This image shows a giant primordial bubble of gas dubbed "Himiko" (after the queen of ancient Japan), as viewed by Hubble, Subaru, and Spitzer. The combination of three Hubble infrared bands is green, while Lyman-alpha emission captured by Subaru Suprime-Cam and infrared 3.6 micron taken by the Spitzer Infrared Array Camera are presented with blue and red, respectively. Astronomers using the combined power of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have discovered that a trio of primitive galaxies are actually nestled inside this enormous gas blob. The rare triple system existed when the Universe was only 800 million years old. The trio may eventually merge into a single massive galaxy, researchers predict.

Name: Himiko
Type: Early Universe : GalaxyEarly Universe : Cosmology
Category: CosmologyGalaxies
Constellation: Cetus
Distance: 13 billion light years
Release date: 22 November 2013, 13:37
Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO, NRAO, NAOJ, JAO, M. Ouchi (University of Tokyo), R. Ellis (California Institute of Technology), Y. Ono (University of Tokyo), K. Nakanishi (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI) and Joint ALMA Observatory), K. Kohno and R. Momose (University of Tokyo), Y. Kurono (Joint ALMA Observatory), M. Ashby (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), K. Shimasaku (University of Tokyo), S. Willner and G. Fazio (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), Y. Tamura (University of Tokyo), and D. Iono (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

Hubble traces faint signatures of water in exoplanet atmospheres (artist's illustration): Two teams of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found faint signatures of water in the atmospheres of five distant exoplanets orbiting three different stars: WASP-17b, HD209458b, WASP-12b, WASP-19b, and XO-1b. All five planets appear to be hazy. The planets are not the size of Earth, but rather massive worlds known as hot Jupiters because they orbit so close to their stars. Hubble's instruments can deduce the types of gases in the atmospheres of these monsters by determining which colours of a star's light are transmitted and which are partially absorbed as the planet passes in front of its star.

Name: HD 209458b, WASP-12b, WASP-17b, WASP-19b, XO-1b
Type: Milky Way : Planet
Category: Illustrations
Release date: 4 December 2013, 10:32
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Science credit: NASA, ESA, A. Mandell (Goddard Space Flight Center), and D. Deming (University of Maryland, College Park)

Hubble sees cloudy super-worlds with a chance for more clouds: This is an illustration of the hypothetical appearance of the exoplanet GJ 1214b, which is known as a "super-Earth" because it has a mass slightly more than six times that of Earth. Spectroscopic observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provide evidence of high clouds blanketing the planet. These clouds hide any information about the composition and behaviour of the world's lower atmosphere and surface. The composition of the clouds is unknown. GJ1214b is located 40 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Bearer).

Name: GJ 1214b
Type: Solar System : Star : Circumstellar Material : Planetary SystemMilky Way : Planet
Category: Illustrations
Distance: 40 light years
Release date: 2 January 2014, 10:17
Credit: Artwork Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI) Science Credit: NASA, ESA, L. Kreidberg and J. Bean (University of Chicago), and H. Knutson (California Institute of Technology)

Size comparison for exoplanets GJ 436b and GJ 1214b (artist's illustration): This illustration compares the sizes of exoplanets GJ 436b and GJ 1214b with Earth and Neptune. These so-called super-Earths have masses between those of gas giants like Neptune, and smaller, rocky planets like Earth. No such type of planet exists in our Solar System. NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopic observations reveal that these worlds could very likely be smothered in clouds that cloak any information about the planets' underlying chemical compositions. This artistic rendering of the exoplanets is speculative and does not necessarily reflect what their true appearance might actually be.

Name: GJ 1214b
Type: Solar System : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : ProtoplanetaryMilky Way : Planet
Category: Illustrations
Release date: 2 January 2014, 10:17
Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild and G. Bacon (STScI)

The Hubble GOODS North field (GOODS-N): This image is from a deep sky Hubble Space Telescope survey called GOODS North (Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey).

Name: GOODS North Field
Type: Unspecified : Cosmology
Category: Cosmology
Constellation: Ursa Major
Release date: 27 August 2014, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz), P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz; Yale University), R. Bouwens and I. Labbé (Leiden University), and the Science Team

GN-z10-3 in the GOODS-N field: This image shows an ultra-bright young galaxy known as GN-z10-3, discovered in the Hubble GOODS North field (Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey). Researchers found four unusually red objects, including GN-z10-3, that appear as they existed just 500 million years after the Big Bang. They appear red because their light has been stretched to longer infrared wavelengths by the expansion of the Universe. These extremely compact and bright galaxies present a puzzle to researchers because they are  much more luminous than anything previously seen at such an early epoch. The young galaxies are bright because they are forming stars at a much faster rate than for other galaxies found at such early times.

Name: GN-z10-3, GOODS North Field
Type: Early Universe : GalaxyEarly Universe : Cosmology
Category: CosmologyGalaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Release date: 8 January 2014, 12:47
Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz), P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz; Yale University), R. Bouwens and I. Labbé (Leiden University), and the Science Team

GN-z9-1 in the GOODS-N field: This image shows an ultra-bright young galaxy known as GN-z9-1, discovered in the Hubble GOODS North field (Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey). Researchers found four unusually red objects, including GN-z9-1, that appear as they existed just 500 million years after the Big Bang. They appear red because their light has been stretched to longer infrared wavelengths by the expansion of the Universe. These extremely compact and bright galaxies present a puzzle to researchers because they are  much more luminous than anything previously seen at such an early epoch. The young galaxies are bright because they are forming stars at a much faster rate than for other galaxies found at such early times.

Name: GN-z9-1, GOODS North Field
Type: Early Universe : GalaxyEarly Universe : Cosmology
Category: CosmologyGalaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Release date: 8 January 2014, 12:47
Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz), P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz; Yale University), R. Bouwens and I. Labbé (Leiden University), and the Science Team