Hubble galaxy at redshift z = 1.3: This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a galaxy similar in mass to the Milky Way. The galaxy is seen as it was 8.9 billion years ago.

Type: Early Universe : Galaxy
Category: Galaxies
Distance: z=1.3 (redshift)
Release date: 10 April 2015, 17:47
Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Papovich (Texas A&M University), H. Ferguson (STScI), S. Faber (University of California, Santa Cruz), and I. Labbé (Leiden University)

Hubble galaxy at redshift z = 2.0: This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a galaxy similar in mass to the Milky Way. The galaxy is seen as it was 10.3 billion years ago.

Type: Early Universe : Galaxy
Category: Galaxies
Distance: z=2.0 (redshift)
Release date: 10 April 2015, 17:47
Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Papovich (Texas A&M University), H. Ferguson (STScI), S. Faber (University of California, Santa Cruz), and I. Labbé (Leiden University)

Hubble galaxy at redshift z = 2.4: This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a galaxy similar in mass to the Milky Way. The galaxy is seen as it was 10.9 billion years ago.

Type: Early Universe : Galaxy
Category: Galaxies
Distance: z=2.4 (redshift)
Release date: 10 April 2015, 17:47
Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Papovich (Texas A&M University), H. Ferguson (STScI), S. Faber (University of California, Santa Cruz), and I. Labbé (Leiden University)

Hubble galaxy at redshift z = 2.8: This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a galaxy similar in mass to the Milky Way. The galaxy is seen as it was 11.3 billion years ago.

Type: Early Universe : Galaxy
Category: Galaxies
Distance: z=2.8 (redshift)
Release date: 10 April 2015, 17:47
Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Papovich (Texas A&M University), H. Ferguson (STScI), S. Faber (University of California, Santa Cruz), and I. Labbé (Leiden University)

Hubble finds giant halo around the Andromeda Galaxy: This diagram shows how scientists determined the size of the halo of the Andromeda galaxy. Because the gas in the halo is dark, the team measured it by using the light from quasars, the very distant bright cores of active galaxies powered by black holes. They observed the quasars’ light as it traveled through the intervening gas. The halo’s gas absorbed some of that light and made the quasar appear darker in a very small wavelength range. By measuring the tiny dip in brightness at that specific range, scientists could tell how much gas is between us and each quasar. Some quasars showed no dip in brightness, and this helped define the size of the halo. NASA press release

Name: M 31, Messier 31
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Category: Galaxies
Distance: 2 million light years
Release date: 8 May 2015, 09:31
Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)

Star cluster in the Andromeda galaxy: [Top] - This is a Hubble Space Telescope mosaic of 414 photographs of the  nearest major galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy (M31).  The vast panorama was assembled from nearly 8,000 separate exposures taken  in near-ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. Embedded within this view are  2,753 star clusters. The view is 61,600 light-years across and contains images of  117 million stars in the galaxy's disk. [Bottom-Left] - An enlargement of the boxed field in the top image reveals  myriad stars and numerous open star clusters as bright blue knots. Hubble's  bird's-eye view of M31 allowed astronomers to conduct a larger-than-ever  sampling of star clusters that are all at the same distance from Earth, 2.5 million  light-years. The view is 4,400 light-years across. [Bottom-Right] - This is a view of six bright blue clusters extracted from the field.  Hubble astronomers discovered that, for whatever reason, nature apparently  cooks up stars with a consistent distribution from massive stars to small stars  (blue supergiants to red dwarfs). This remains a constant across the galaxy,  despite the fact that the clusters vary in mass by a factor of 10 and range in age  from 4 million to 24 million years old. Each cluster square is 150 light-years across. NASA Press release

Name: Andromeda Galaxy, M 31, Messier 31
Type: Local Universe : Star : Grouping : ClusterLocal Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Category: GalaxiesStar Clusters
Distance: 2 million light years
Release date: 4 September 2015, 11:23
Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson (University of  Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler

Active Galaxy 3C 264 (NGC 3862): [Left] In this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the central region of the galaxy NGC 3862, an extragalactic jet of material moving at nearly the speed of light can be seen at the three o'clock position. The jet of ejected plasma is powered by energy from a supermassive black hole at the center of the elliptical  galaxy, which is located 260 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. [Right] A sequence of Hubble images of knots (outlined in red, green, and blue) shows them moving along the jet over a 20-year span of observing. Astronomers were surprised to discover that the central knot (green) caught up with and merged with the knot in front of it (blue). The new analysis suggests that shocks produced by collisions within the jet further accelerate particles that are confined to a narrowly focused beam of radiation. The "X" marks the location of the black hole.

Name: 3C 264
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGNEarly Universe : Galaxy : Component : Central Black Hole
Category: Galaxies
Distance: 300 million light years
Release date: 28 May 2015, 12:24
Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Meyers (STScI)

Compass and Scale Image of 3C 264: [Left] In this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the central region of the galaxy NGC 3862, an extragalactic jet of material moving at nearly the speed of light can be seen at the three o'clock position. The jet of ejected plasma is powered by energy from a supermassive black hole at the center of the elliptical  galaxy, which is located 260 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. [Right] A sequence of Hubble images of knots (outlined in red, green, and blue) shows them moving along the jet over a 20-year span of observing. Astronomers were surprised to discover that the central knot (green) caught up with and merged with the knot in front of it (blue). The new analysis suggests that shocks produced by collisions within the jet further accelerate particles that are confined to a narrowly focused beam of radiation. The "X" marks the location of the black hole.

Name: 3C 264
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGNEarly Universe : Galaxy : Component : Central Black Hole
Category: Galaxies
Distance: 300 million light years
Release date: 28 May 2015, 12:24
Credit: NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI) Acknowledgment: E. Meyer (STScI)