Astronomers Select Top Five Most Amazing Pictures Taken by HubbleSpace Telescope in Last 16 Years
‘..they illustrate that our universe is not only deeply strange, but also almost impossibly beautiful.’ Michael Hanlon/AH
After correcting an initial problem with the lens, when the Hubble Space Telescope was first launched in 1990, the floating astro-observatory began to relay back to Earth, incredible snap shots of the ‘final frontier’ it was perusing.
Recently, astronauts voted on the top photographs taken by Hubble in its 16-year journey so far. Remarking in the article from the Daily Mail, reporter Michael Hanlon says the photos ‘illustrate that our universe is not only deeply strange, but also almost impossibly beautiful.’
Enjoy!
The Sombrero Galaxy – 28 million light years from Earth – was voted best picture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the galaxy, officially called M104, are as spectacular as its appearance It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.
The Ant Nebula, a cloud of dust and gas whose technical name is Mz3, resembles an ant when observed using ground-based telescopes… The nebula lies within our galaxy between 3,000 and 6,000 light years from earth .
In third place is Nebula NGC 2392, called ‘Eskimo‘ because it looks like a face surrounded by a furry hood. The hood is, in fact, a ring of comet-shaped objects flying away from a dying star. Eskimo is 5,000 light years from Earth.
At four is the Cat’s Eye Nebula.
The Hourglass Nebula, 8,000 light years away, has a ‘pinched-in-the-middle’ look because the winds that shape it are weaker at the centre .
Wow! Beautiful!
Russ