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A Hidden, Massive Star Clust
…
| Title |
A Hidden, Massive Star Cluster Awash with Red Supergiants |
| Description |
The sky is a jewelry box full of sparkling stars in these infrared images. The crown jewels are 14 massive stars on the verge of exploding as supernovae. These hefty stars reside in one of the most massive star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. The bluish cluster is inside the white box in the large image, which shows the star-studded region around it. A close-up of the cluster can be seen in the inset photo. These large stars are a tip-off to the mass of the young cluster. Astronomers estimate that the cluster is at least 20,000 times as massive as the Sun. Each red supergiant is about 20 times the Sun's mass. The larger color-composite image was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope for the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The survey penetrates obscuring dust along the thick disk of our galaxy to reveal never-before-seen stars and star clusters. The false colors in the image correspond to infrared-light emission. The stars in the large color-composite image all appear blue because they emit most of their infrared light at shorter wavelengths. The inset image, a false-color composite, was captured by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Astronomers identified the cluster as a potential behemoth after spotting it in the 2MASS catalogue. They then used the Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona to analyze the cluster's colors. From that analysis, they discovered the red supergiants. They confirmed the red supergiants' pedigree by studying the colors of other red supergiants in data taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The cluster lies 18,900 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Scutum. It is the first in a survey of 130 potentially massive star clusters in the Milky Way that astronomers will study over the next five years using a variety of telescopes, including the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. The Spitzer image was taken April 4, 2004, the 2MASS image on July 4, 1999. The science team that studied the star cluster consists of Don Figer, Space Telescope Science Institute/Rochester Institute of Techology, John MacKenty, Massimo Robberto, and Kester Smith, Space Telescope Science Institute, Francisco Najarro, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia in Madrid, Spain: Rolf Kudritzki, University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and Artemio Herrero, Universidad de La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain. |
|
A Hidden, Massive Star Clust
…
| Title |
A Hidden, Massive Star Cluster Awash with Red Supergiants |
| Description |
The sky is a jewelry box full of sparkling stars in these infrared images. The crown jewels are 14 massive stars on the verge of exploding as supernovae. These hefty stars reside in one of the most massive star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. The bluish cluster is inside the white box in the large image, which shows the star-studded region around it. A close-up of the cluster can be seen in the inset photo. These large stars are a tip-off to the mass of the young cluster. Astronomers estimate that the cluster is at least 20,000 times as massive as the Sun. Each red supergiant is about 20 times the Sun's mass. The larger color-composite image was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope for the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The survey penetrates obscuring dust along the thick disk of our galaxy to reveal never-before-seen stars and star clusters. The false colors in the image correspond to infrared-light emission. The stars in the large color-composite image all appear blue because they emit most of their infrared light at shorter wavelengths. The inset image, a false-color composite, was captured by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Astronomers identified the cluster as a potential behemoth after spotting it in the 2MASS catalogue. They then used the Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona to analyze the cluster's colors. From that analysis, they discovered the red supergiants. They confirmed the red supergiants' pedigree by studying the colors of other red supergiants in data taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The cluster lies 18,900 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Scutum. It is the first in a survey of 130 potentially massive star clusters in the Milky Way that astronomers will study over the next five years using a variety of telescopes, including the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. The Spitzer image was taken April 4, 2004, the 2MASS image on July 4, 1999. The science team that studied the star cluster consists of Don Figer, Space Telescope Science Institute/Rochester Institute of Techology, John MacKenty, Massimo Robberto, and Kester Smith, Space Telescope Science Institute, Francisco Najarro, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia in Madrid, Spain: Rolf Kudritzki, University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and Artemio Herrero, Universidad de La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain. |
|
A Hidden, Massive Star Clust
…
| Title |
A Hidden, Massive Star Cluster Awash with Red Supergiants |
| Description |
The sky is a jewelry box full of sparkling stars in these infrared images. The crown jewels are 14 massive stars on the verge of exploding as supernovae. These hefty stars reside in one of the most massive star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. The bluish cluster is inside the white box in the large image, which shows the star-studded region around it. A close-up of the cluster can be seen in the inset photo. These large stars are a tip-off to the mass of the young cluster. Astronomers estimate that the cluster is at least 20,000 times as massive as the Sun. Each red supergiant is about 20 times the Sun's mass. The larger color-composite image was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope for the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Legacy project. The survey penetrates obscuring dust along the thick disk of our galaxy to reveal never-before-seen stars and star clusters. The false colors in the image correspond to infrared-light emission. The stars in the large color-composite image all appear blue because they emit most of their infrared light at shorter wavelengths. The inset image, a false-color composite, was captured by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Astronomers identified the cluster as a potential behemoth after spotting it in the 2MASS catalogue. They then used the Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona to analyze the cluster's colors. From that analysis, they discovered the red supergiants. They confirmed the red supergiants' pedigree by studying the colors of other red supergiants in data taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The cluster lies 18,900 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Scutum. It is the first in a survey of 130 potentially massive star clusters in the Milky Way that astronomers will study over the next five years using a variety of telescopes, including the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. The Spitzer image was taken April 4, 2004, the 2MASS image on July 4, 1999. The science team that studied the star cluster consists of Don Figer, Space Telescope Science Institute/Rochester Institute of Techology, John MacKenty, Massimo Robberto, and Kester Smith, Space Telescope Science Institute, Francisco Najarro, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia in Madrid, Spain: Rolf Kudritzki, University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and Artemio Herrero, Universidad de La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain. |
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Charon Discovery Image
| title |
Charon Discovery Image |
| date |
06.22.1978 |
| description |
On 22 June 1978, an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. was making routine measurements of photographic plates taken with the 1.55-meter (61-inch) Kaj Strand Astrometric Reflector at the USNO Flagstaff Station in Arizona. The purpose of these images was to refine the orbit of the far-flung planet Pluto to help compute a better ephemeris for this distant object. Astronomer James W. Christy had noticed that a number of the images of Pluto appeared elongated, but images of background stars on the same plate did not. Other plates showed the planet as a tiny, round dot. Christy examined a number of Pluto images from the USNO archives, and he noticed the elongations again. Furthermore, the elongations appeared to change position with respect to the stars over time. After eliminating the possibility that the elongations were produced by plate defects and background stars, the only plausible explanation was that they were caused by a previously unknown moon orbiting Pluto at a distance of about 19,600 kilometers (12,100 miles) with a period of just over six days. On 7 July 1978, the discovery was formally announced to the astronomical community and the world by the IAU Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams via IAU Circular 3241. The discovery received the provisional designation "1978 P 1", Christy proposed the name "Charon", after the mythological ferryman who carried souls across the river Acheron, one of the five mythical rivers that surrounded Pluto's underworld. Over the course of the next several years, another USNO astronomer, the late Robert S. Harrington, calculated that Pluto and its newly-found moon would undergo a series of mutual eclipses and occultations, beginning in early 1985. On 17 February 1985 the first successful observation of one of these transits was made at with the 0.9-meter (36-inch) reflector at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, within 40 minutes of Harrington's predicted time. The IAU Circular announcing these confirming observations was issued on 22 February 1985. With this confirmation, the new moon was officially named Charon. Pluto was discovered at Lowell Observatory in 1930 by the late Clyde W. Tombaugh, an amateur astronomer from Kansas who was hired by the Observatory specifically to photograph the sky with a special camera and search for the planet predicted by the Observatory's founder, Percival Lowell. Lowell had deduced the existence of a "Planet X" by studying small anomalies in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. As it turned out, Pluto's discovery was almost entirely serendipitous, Pluto's tiny mass was far too small to account for the anomalies, which were resolved when Voyager 2 determined more precise masses for Uranus and Neptune. The discovery of Charon has led to a much better understanding of just how tiny Pluto is. Its diameter is about 2274 km (1413 miles), and its mass is 0.25% of the mass of the Earth. Charon has a diameter of about 1172 kilometers (728, miles) and a mass of about 22% that of Pluto. The two worlds circle their common center of mass with a period of 6.387 days and are locked in a "super-synchronous" rotation: observers on Pluto's surface would always see Charon in the same part of the sky relative to their local horizon. Normally Pluto is considered the most distant world in the solar system, but during the period from January 1979 until February 1999 it was actually closer to the Sun than Neptune. It has the most eccentric and inclinced orbit of any of the major planets. This orbit won't bring Pluto back to its discovery position until the year 2178! *Image Credit*: U.S. Naval Observatory |
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An Expanding Bubble in Space
| Title |
An Expanding Bubble in Space |
| Full Description |
Astronomers, using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in October and November 1997 and April 1999, imaged the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) with unprecedented clarity. For the first time, they are able to understand the geometry and dynamics of this very complicated system. Earlier pictures taken of the nebula with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 1 left many issues unanswered, as the data could not be fully calibrated for scientific use. In addition, those data never imaged the enigmatic inner structure presented here. The remarkably spherical "Bubble" marks the boundary between an intense wind of particles from the star and the more quiescent interior of the nebula. Research Team: Donald Walter (South Carolina State University), Paul Scowen, Jeff Hester, Brian Moore (Arizona State University), Reggie Dufour, Patrick Hartigan and Brent Buckalew (Rice University). |
| Date |
01/13/2000 |
| NASA Center |
Hubble Space Telescope Center |
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Hubble Views of Dust Disks a
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| Title |
Hubble Views of Dust Disks and Rings Surrounding Young Stars Yield Clues |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their first views of a dust ring around the star HR 4796A and a dark gap dividing an immense dust disk around the star HD 141569. These images may provide important clues to possible planet formation. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1999/03/text/ ] |
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The Trifid Nebula: Stellar S
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| Title |
The Trifid Nebula: Stellar Sibling Rivalry |
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The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A P
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| Title |
The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A Planetary Nebula in the Making |
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The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A P
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| Title |
The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A Planetary Nebula in the Making |
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The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A P
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| Title |
The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A Planetary Nebula in the Making |
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The Trifid Nebula: Stellar S
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| Title |
The Trifid Nebula: Stellar Sibling Rivalry |
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The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A P
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| Title |
The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A Planetary Nebula in the Making |
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Hubble Finds Many Bright Clo
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| Title |
Hubble Finds Many Bright Clouds on Uranus |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
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| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Hubble Views of Dust Disks a
…
| Title |
Hubble Views of Dust Disks and Rings Surrounding Young Stars Yield Clues |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their first views of a dust ring around the star HR 4796A and a dark gap dividing an immense dust disk around the star HD 141569. These images may provide important clues to possible planet formation. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1999/03/text/ ] |
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Hubble Views of Dust Disks a
…
| Title |
Hubble Views of Dust Disks and Rings Surrounding Young Stars Yield Clues |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their first views of a dust ring around the star HR 4796A and a dark gap dividing an immense dust disk around the star HD 141569. These images may provide important clues to possible planet formation. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1999/03/text/ ] |
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Magnificent Details in a Dus
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| Title |
Magnificent Details in a Dusty Spiral Galaxy |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. The Key Project team used this Hubble telescope view of the magnificent spiral galaxy, NGC 4414, to help calculate the expansion rate of the universe. Based on their discovery and careful brightness measurements of variable stars in this galaxy, the Key Project astronomers were able to make an accurate determination of the distance to the galaxy. The resulting distance to NGC 4414, about 60 million light-years, along with similarly determined distances to other nearby galaxies, contributes to astronomers' overall knowledge of the expansion rate of the cosmos, and helps them determine the age of the universe. |
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Star Clusters Born in the Wr
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| Title |
Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions |
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Star Clusters Born in the Wr
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| Title |
Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions |
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Star Clusters Born in the Wr
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| Title |
Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions |
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Star Clusters Born in the Wr
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| Title |
Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions |
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Star Clusters Born in the Wr
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| Title |
Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions |
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Star Clusters Born in the Wr
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| Title |
Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions |
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Star Clusters Born in the Wr
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| Title |
Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions |
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A Minuet of Galaxies
| Title |
A Minuet of Galaxies |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. This troupe of four galaxies, known as Hickson Compact Group 87 (HCG 87), is performing an intricate dance orchestrated by the mutual gravitational forces acting between them. The dance is a slow, graceful minuet, occurring over a time span of hundreds of millions of years. This Hubble telescope image reveals complex details in the dust lanes of the group's largest galaxy member (HCG 87a), which is actually disk-shaped, but tilted so that we see it nearly edge-on. Both 87a and its elliptically shaped nearest neighbor (87b) have active galactic nuclei, which are believed to harbor black holes that are consuming gas. A third group member, the nearby spiral galaxy 87c, may be undergoing a burst of active star formation. The three galaxies are so close to each other that gravitational forces disrupt their structure and alter their evolution. |
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Star Clusters Born in the Wr
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| Title |
Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions |
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Star Clusters Born in the Wr
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| Title |
Star Clusters Born in the Wreckage of Cosmic Collisions |
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Hubble Takes a Close-up View
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| Title |
Hubble Takes a Close-up View of a Reflection Nebula in Orion |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
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| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
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| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
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| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
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| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
…
| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
…
| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
…
| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
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| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Hubble Reveals the Heart of
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| Title |
Hubble Reveals the Heart of the Whirlpool Galaxy |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
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A Change of Seasons on Satur
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| Title |
A Change of Seasons on Saturn |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
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Too Close for Comfort: Hubbl
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| Title |
Too Close for Comfort: Hubble Discovers an Evaporating Planet |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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Too Close for Comfort: Hubbl
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| Title |
Too Close for Comfort: Hubble Discovers an Evaporating Planet |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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The Secret Lives of Galaxies
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| Title |
The Secret Lives of Galaxies Unveiled in Deep Survey |
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