Galaxy Messier 82 (M82), also called the cigar galaxy
NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Crew (STScIAURA); J. Gallagher (College of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI), P. Puxley (NSF)
Scarlet plumes of hydrogen emanate from the full of life cosmic portrait of the galaxy Messier 82 (M82) proven above. Also called the cigar galaxy, it sits within the constellation Ursa Main, round 12 million gentle years away.
It’s what is called a starburst galaxy as a consequence of its remarkably excessive price of star formation. The truth is, for each star born within the Milky Method, 10 burst into existence in M82. The rationale for this a lot larger exercise lies in M82’s gravitational interactions with a neighbouring galaxy often called M81.
The unbelievable picture right here is the sharpest wide-angle view of M82 ever captured. It was assembled utilizing photographs taken by NASA’s Hubble House Telescope in each infrared and visual wavelengths of sunshine.
Cat’s Eye Nebula
ESA/NASA/HEIC/Hubble Heritage Crew (STScIAURA)
Glowing with an ethereal magnificence is the Cat’s Eye Nebula, or NGC 6543, (pictured above) which was additionally imaged by Hubble. It’s a planetary nebula. Regardless of the identify, these are nothing to do with planets, however type when sun-like stars vigorously expel their outer layers of fuel to type a spectacular show. This nebula’s concentric, pastel-coloured rings are shells of fabric emitted in a collection of pulses, with round 1500 years between every occasion.
Each these magnificent scenes function within the upcoming ebook Cosmos: Discover the Wonders of the Universe, out on 3 October.
“I hope readers will take away both a sense of wonder at how incredible, vast and beautiful our universe is,” says astrophysicist Becky Smethurst, who wrote the ebook’s foreword, “but also a sense of how much there is that we still don’t know about our universe.”
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