A whole new view of the Crab Nebula: In 1054 AD, during the Song dynasty, Chinese astronomers spotted a bright new star in the night sky. This newcomer turned out to be a violent explosion within the Milky Way, caused by the spectacular death of a star some 1600 light-years away. This explosion created one of the most well-studied and beautiful objects in the night sky — the Crab Nebula. The beautiful result of this cataclysmic Type II supernova is shown here, imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Unlike more commonly seen views of this remnant (heic0515), which show incredibly intricate branches and spires laced throughout the region, this image uses just a single filter, giving rise to a smoother and far simpler view of the famous nebula. The unstoppable collapse of the Crab’s progenitor star led to the formation of a rapidly rotating neutron star named the Crab Pulsar, which lurks at the heart of the nebula. This object is roughly the same size as Mars’ small moon Phobos, but contains almost one and a half times the mass of the Sun, and whirls around thirty times every second. This causes jets of high-energy radiation to periodically sweep in the direction of Earth, like the spinning beams of a lighthouse, causing the Crab Nebula to appear to pulse at specific wavelengths. The Crab Nebula is also known as NGC 1952 and Messier 1. The second of these names was assigned by Charles Messier. He initially misclassified the nebula with Halley’s Comet but soon he realised that the object did not move. Hence he decided to call it M1 as the first object of a catalogue of objects that look like comets but are not.

Name: Crab Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Taurus
Distance: 1500 light years
Release date: 31 October 2016, 06:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)

A greedy giant: NGC 1222, seen in this image taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), is a galaxy with a rather eventful story to tell. NGC 1222 has been described as a peculiar example of a type of galaxy known as a lenticular galaxy. Typically, this kind of galaxy would present a rather smooth appearance on the sky and would consist mostly of old, reddish stars. A bit dull, perhaps. But NGC 1222 is certainly not a typical member of its class — and it’s anything but dull. Observations show the characteristic features of very recent star formation on a huge scale — an event known as a starburst. The reason for all this violent activity is caused by the fact that NGC 1222 is not alone. It actually contains three compact regions, each of which appears to be the central nucleus of a galaxy. Astronomers think that NGC 1222 is in the process of swallowing up two much smaller dwarf galaxies that strayed too close to it. It is likely that the encounter was the trigger for the starburst in NGC 1222, bringing in fresh supplies of gas that are now fuelling the burst of star formation.

Name: NGC 1222
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Lenticular
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Eridanus
Distance: 100 million light years
Release date: 7 November 2016, 06:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

A subtle swarm: This Hubble image shows NGC 4789A, a dwarf irregular galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices. It certainly lives up to its name — the stars that call this galaxy home are smeared out across the sky in an apparently disorderly and irregular jumble, giving NGC 4789A a far more subtle and abstract appearance than its glitzy spiral and elliptical cousins. These stars may look as if they have been randomly sprinkled on the sky, but they are all held together by gravity. The colours in this image have been deliberately exaggerated to emphasise the mix of blue and red stars. The blue stars are bright, hot and massive stars that have formed relatively recently, whereas the red stars are much older. The presence of both tells us that stars have been forming in this galaxy throughout its history. At a distance of just over 14 million light-years away NGC 4789A is relatively close to us, allowing us to see many of the individual stars within its bounds. This image also reveals numerous other galaxies, far more distant, that appear as fuzzy shapes spread across the image.

Name: NGC 4789A
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Lenticular
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Distance: 14 million light years
Release date: 14 November 2016, 06:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgements: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)

Hubble spies NGC 3274: This image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3274 comes courtesy of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Hubble’s WFC3 vision spreads from the ultraviolet light through to the near infrared , allowing astronomers to study a wide range of targets, from nearby star formation through to galaxies in the most remote regions of the cosmos. This particular image combines observations gathered in five different filters, bringing together ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light to show off NGC 3274 in all its glory. As with all of the data Hubble sends back to Earth, it takes advantage of the telescope’s location in space above our planet’s distorting atmosphere. WFC3 returns clear, crisp, and detailed images time after time. NGC 3274 is a relatively faint galaxy located over 20 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). The galaxy was discovered by Wilhelm Herschel in 1783. The galaxy PGC 213714 is also visible on the upper right of the frame, located much further away from Earth.

Name: NGC 3274
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Leo
Distance: 20 million light years
Release date: 21 November 2016, 06:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Calzetti

Spotlight on IC 3583: This delicate blue group of stars — actually an irregular galaxy named IC 3583 — sits some 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin). It may seem to have no discernable structure, but IC 3583 has been found to have a bar of stars running through its centre. These structures are common throughout the Universe, and are found within the majority of spiral, many irregular, and some lenticular galaxies. Two of our closest cosmic neighbours, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, are barred, indicating that they may have once been barred spiral galaxies that were disrupted or torn apart by the gravitational pull of the Milky Way.

Name: IC 3583
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Irregular
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Virgo
Distance: 30 million light years
Release date: 28 November 2016, 06:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA