Hubble Space Telescope Archives

Hubble captures collision inside supermassive black hole jet

May 29, 2015 By Jeff Suchon Leave a Comment

Astronomers for the first time ever has witnessed a rare event in deep space, where a collision between two jets of matter racing outward from a black hole at 98 percent of the speed of the light.

The Hubble Space Telescope has witnessed the collision.

The black hole in the radio galaxy NGC 3862 is located roughly 260 million light years away from our Milky Way.

The jets emanating from galaxies can appear to be racing toward Earth faster than the speed of light, a condition that is forbidden by the Special Theory of Relativity. This violation of laws of physics is due to an optical illusion, and astronomers hope this new finding helps them learn more about this strange effect.

Extra galactic jets, which shoot material from the active nucleus of a galaxy in a thin beam, are not well understood.

Analysis of the new data suggests that collisions within the beams accelerate material within the structure and increase the brightness of the gas.

Hubble has observed galaxy NCG 3862 over the course of 20 years. These images are used by the astronomers to create a video showing movement of the material away from the elliptical galaxy.

The jets emanating from NCG 3862 were first spotted in the constellation of Leo by astronomers using the Hubble telescope in 1992. They have a bumpy structure, much like a pearl necklace.

The video created by the astronomers showed one of the knots, appearing to move at the superluminal speed of seven times the speed of light, catching up and colliding with a slower moving clump of material. As the two collide, the event resulted in increased brightness from the scene of the accident. This behavior is expected to continue for several decades.

Eileen Meyer of the Space Telescope Science Institute or STScI said, “Something like this has never been seen before in an extragalactic jet. This will allow us a very rare opportunity to see how the energy of the collision is dissipated into radiation.”

Newly formed stars and black holes emit jets of gas in a fine stream, similar to a laser.

Astronomers believe that the gas comprises these features originally falls onto the stars or near the black hole, where the material is super heated. It is then ejected away from the body through acceleration delivered by the rotation of the central object.

This stream of material is then focused into a beam by the force of magnetic fields around the star or black hole. At the beginning of this process, if the gas falling onto the star arrives in clumps, it can result in pulses of material at the end, producing the necklace like structure seen in the NGC 3862.

NASA celebrates Hubble Space Telescope’s 25 years of space exploration

April 26, 2015 By Jeff Suchon Leave a Comment

US space agency NASA is celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the space tour of its advanced Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble is best known for capturing numerous rare images of celestial bodies and the space. The highly powerful telescope has immensely contributed in the space study by offering close examinations of the deep space and celestial bodies, including our planet Earth.

Among its various important contributions include the first observations of the dwarf planet Pluto’s surface and the characterization of the moons of Haumea.

John Grunsfeld, NASA Science Mission Directorate astronaut and associate administrator, said, “Hubble has completely transformed our view of the universe, revealing the true beauty and richness of the cosmos. This vista of starry fireworks and glowing gas is a fitting image for our celebration of 25 years of amazing Hubble science.”

NASA’s revolutionary telescope has successfully survived decades of glitches, delays and blunders for fulfilling the predictions that it would rewrite the science.

Ken Sembach, head of the Hubble mission at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, said, “The combination of these two observatories will be very powerful scientifically. They’ll be able to follow up on each other’s discoveries.”

Hubble was launched in April 24, 1990. The mission was originally planned for 1983 launch but it was delayed first due to the hiccups in its assembly and further because of the explosion of space shuttle Challenger in 1986.

The telescope has undergone five servicing missions, beginning with the crucial repair in 1993 and concluding with a complete makeover in 2009. Two key new instruments were added, while two others were fixed in the procedure.

The space scientists are aiming at keeping Hubble in operation for at least another five years.

NASA to organize special events to observe 25th anniversary of Hubble

April 5, 2015 By Stephanie James Leave a Comment

US space agency NASA is leaving no stone unturned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its advanced and much reliable Hubble Space Telescope which was launched on April 24, 1990.

As the 25th anniversary is approaching, the American space agency is inviting the people from nationwide and across the globe to join the mega celebrations.

Making an announcement in this regard on its website, the US space agency said, “On April 23 from 9 to 9:45 am EDT, NASA will unveil the official Hubble 25th anniversary image at the Newseum in Washington. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate John Grunsfeld, and Hubble Senior Project Scientist Jennifer Wiseman, will speak about Hubble’s achievements.”

NASA will organize ‘Hubble 3D’, an IMAX movie narrating the complete story of the best-known space telescope of the world, at theaters across the US.

The National Air and Space Museum, which is managed by the Smithsonian Institution, will feature the Hubble observatory in a number of display events organized through the April-end.

An educational program, under the name ‘Hubble: A Blast from the Past!’, will be organized for the children by the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Complex. Children aged 5 to 7 year-old will get an incredible opportunity to learn about astronomy and experience the celestial objects in the planetarium. Young participants aged 8 to 13 can also avail the opportunity to design a habitat suitable for Mars, the ‘Red Planet’, with the help of advanced computers. Moreover, the participating children can also learn how to classify celestial bodies in the deep sky, including black holes and galaxies.

An exhibition, named “Heaven’s Carousel”, will be organized at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, between April 23 and May 2, where some of the most stunning and important photographs captured by the Hubble Telescope will be put on display. The European Space Station, a partner of NASA on the Hubble program, will sponsor the show.

A Hubble-themed Family Day Event will also be organized on April 25 at the Smithsonian’s NASM Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The children will get a rare opportunity to interact with the astronauts and enrich their space information.

Washington Dulles International airport and Reagan National airport will be featuring images captured by Hubble Telescope in their baggage claim areas.

The United States will not be the lone country to celebrate the 25 successful years of Hubble Telescope. The celebratory events will also be organized in several other countries, including the one in Portugal. Instrument Team Lead Christina M. Oliveira will address an event on April 8, during which he will shed light on the history of the Hubble program in Lisbon.

The advanced Hubble Space Telescope, worth USD 2.5 billion, orbits 347 miles above the surface of the Earth.

NASA to celebrate 25th anniversary of Hubble

April 4, 2015 By Stephen Kenwright Leave a Comment

The 25^th anniversary of Hubble Space telescope falls on April 24. In celebration of its success a documentary “Saving Hubble” is made.

Major understanding of our solar system was only possible with the help of Hubble telescope. It has helped scientist explore the vast solar system with the pictures captured.

The director David Gaynes at the Saving Hubble press conference said, “Hubble’s wide support among the general public, to say nothing of the space and astronomy communities, is obviously a testament to the success of the mission, but the achievement of Hubble is even greater than the sum of all the science and wonder the mission has generated – so great it’s hard to articulate the feeling, though so many of us recognize it and attempt to describe it.”

He continued, “Hubble’s story writ large, from the original idea of a telescope in space through its execution, utilization, and the subsequent transformation of our understanding of the universe is, simply put, the essence of the human story.”

He added “This is why thousands of people have profound feelings for the machine. Hubble is, in fact, not only a mirror on the cosmos but a mirror for ourselves, and that’s the unique angle of the Hubble story I sought to tell. I’m proud to have had a role contextualizing this very simple but powerful idea and to have helped create a film that explores the significance of the Hubble endeavor on a deeper level than ever before.”

NASA Releases Astounding Image of Andromeda

February 20, 2015 By Stephanie James

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures the newest, largest, and sharpest image of the Andromeda. At 1.5 billion pixels, the photo shows the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. The image showcases more than 100 million stars along with thousand star clusters entrenched in the galaxy’s pancake-shaped section that stretch across more than 40,000 light-years.

However, the image requires a disk space of 4.3GB so as people can view. Hubble also said that over 600 high-definition television screens are necessary to display the whole image. Finally, the panoramic image indicates only one-third of the galactic neighbor. A new video has also been released to make the image viewing easier.

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