Hubble | Common News Update

Nov22020 by adminNo Comments

Hubble Telescope used to study rare metal asteroid

Technology

An asteroid made of iron and nickel first discovered in 1852 could have been a protoplanet, according to scientists.The Hubble Space Telescope was used to study the asteroid, named 16 Psyche, during two points in its rotation. Dr Tracy Becker, a scientist from the Southwest Research Institute, said: "We've seen meteorites that are mostly metal, but Psyche could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of iron and nickel." Image: NASA plan to study the asteroid in a 2026 mission. Pic: Maxar/ASU/P. Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech She added: "Earth has a metal core, a mantle and crust. It's possible that as a Psyche protoplanet was forming, it was struck by another object in our solar system and lost its mantle and crust."Fi...

Apr242020 by adminNo Comments

Hubble telescope celebrates 30 years of stunning science

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your device It's 30 years ago to the day that the Hubble Space Telescope was launched.Famously blighted by blurred vision at the outset, the observatory was eventually repaired and upgraded.The remarkable pictures it has taken of planets, stars, and galaxies have transformed our view of the cosmos. Indeed, there are those who think Hubble is the most important scientific tool ever built.It's still far from retirement.The US space agency (Nasa), which runs the observatory in partnership with the European Space Agency (Esa), says operations will be funded for as long as they remain productive. Last year, its data resulted in almost 1,000 scientific papers being published - so it continues to stand at the forefron...

Nov222019 by adminNo Comments

Hubble catches gamma-ray burst with highest energy yet-recorded

Science

Nov. 21 (UPI) -- With the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have characterized the gamma-ray burst GRB 190114C, which featured the highest energy ever recorded. The record-setting gamma-ray burst was first spotted in January by several telescopes, including NASA's Swift and Fermi telescopes. Shortly after its discovery, several other powerful telescopes, including space-based observatories like Hubble, set out to image the powerful object in greater detail. Earlier observations suggest material ejected during the gamma-ray burst explosion reached speeds of 99.999 percent the speed of light. As this material passed through gas surrounding the collapsing star, a shock wave was produced. The shock wave triggers the burst of gamma rays measured by observatories on Earth. The new...

Nov172019 by adminNo Comments

Hubble captures portrait of unique spiral galaxy

Science

Nov. 15 (UPI) -- NASA shared a new Hubble Space Telescope image Friday featuring a galaxy that looks a lot like the Milky Way upon first glance. Like the Milky Way, NGC 772 is a spiral galaxy. It also has several small satellite galaxies circling its outskirts, just as the Milky Way does. Additionally, NGC 772 boasts a long, warped arm of gas, dust and stars. The arm was stretched and distorted by the gravity of one of the passing satellite galaxies. But while NGC 772 may look like many of the other spiral galaxies photographed by Hubble, its composition and structure are unique. NGC 772 is without a bar; it is an unbarred spiral galaxy. Bars are found in the centers of most spiral galaxies. Scientists estimate these pipelines of gas and dust help deliver materials to star-forming region...

Aug232019 by adminNo Comments

NASA’s Hubble captures image of dynamic star death

Science

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- NASA and the European Space Agency on Friday released an image of a dying star that the agencies said confounded astronomers when they first studied it. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image released this week was thought to be a picture of two separate objects, when in fact the objects are one star that has separated into two lobes. While they were recorded by astronomers as separate planetary bodies -- NGC 2371 and NGC 2372 -- the two lobes form something called a planetary nebula. The nebula NGC 2371/2 formed when a star started to die, pushing its outer layers out into space, leaving a stellar remnant behind. In the picture, the two lobes of material can be seen in the upper right and lower left corners, with the superheated stellar remnant roughly equidistant be...