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Showing posts from April, 2010

Out of this world: Hubble celebrates its 20th birthday with amazing pictures of a turbulent cosmic tower

Image
This stunning image is not from some artist's science fiction fantasy but was taken by Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope. For 20 years it has been peering into deep space and this image was released today to celebrate its birthday. Taken earlier this year the picture captures the chaotic activity atop a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. Look at the clarity and the closeness of each picture where we can see every particle very clear. These two images of Carina Nebula show observations taken in visible and in infrared light by Hubble reveal dramatically different views. The one on the right reveals the stars behind the nebula's wall of hydrogen laced wtih dust The image of Carina Nebula resembles this 1995 image taken by Hubble which was dubbed the 'Pillars of Creation' and has become one of its most famous images. Located at the heart of the Eagle Nebula, the Pillars are gas