Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Great Images in Nasa Collection
Title:
Hubble Reopens Eye on the Universe
Full Description:
In its first glimpse of the heavens following the successful December 1999 servicing mission, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a majestic view of a planetary nebula, the glowing remains of a dying, Sun-like star. This stellar relic, first spied by William Herschel in 1787, is nicknamed the "Eskimo" Nebula (NGC 2392) because, when viewed through ground-based telescopes, it resembles a face surrounded by a fur parka. In this Hubble telescope image, the "parka" is really a disk of material embellished with a ring of comet-shaped objects, with their tails streaming away from the central, dying star. The Eskimo's "face" also contains some fascinating details. Although this bright central region resembles a ball of twine, it is, in reality, a bubble of material being blown into space by the central star's intense "wind" of high-speed material. In this photo, one bubble lies in front of the other, obscuring part of the second lobe. Scientists believe that a ring of dense material around the star's equator, ejected during its red giant phase, created the nebula's shape. The bubbles are not smooth like balloons but have filaments of denser matter. Each bubble is about 1 light-year long and about half a light-year wide. Scientists are still puzzled about the origin of the comet-shaped features in the "parka." One possible explanation is that these objects formed from a collision of slow-and fast-moving gases. The Eskimo Nebula is about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini. The picture was taken Jan. 10 and 11, 2000, with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The nebula's glowing gases produce the colors in this image: nitrogen (red), hydrogen (green), oxygen (blue), and helium (violet).
Date:
01/24/2000
NASA Center:
Hubble Space Telescope Center
Subject Category:
Deep Space Studies
Subject Category:
Hubble
Keywords:
Space
Keywords:
Field
Keywords:
Camera
Keywords:
2
Keywords:
Red
Keywords:
Telescope
Keywords:
Wide
Keywords:
Planetary
Keywords:
Hubble
Keywords:
HST
Keywords:
Nebula
Keywords:
WFPC
Keywords:
Eskimo
Keywords:
Giant
Audience:
General Public
facet_what:
Camera 2
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
FAST
facet_what:
Gemini
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_when:
1787
facet_when:
December 1999
facet_when:
01-24-2000
facet_when_year:
1999
facet_when_year:
2000
facet_when_year:
1787
Image #:
PR00-07
original_url:
UID:
SPD-GRIN-GPN-2000-00 0882
Center:
HSTI
Center Number:
PR00-07
GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-000882
Creator-Photographer:
NASA, A.Fruchter, ERO Team, STScI
Original Source:
DIGITAL

Hubble Reopens Eye on the Universe