TWO HUBBLE IMAGES SHOW AFTERMATH OF VIOLENT COSMIC EVENTS
Two new images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) provide
details of the results from two violent cosmic events. One images
shows a single star which blew off its outer shell 1,000 years ago
and the other shows the unusual result of two galaxies which collided
eons ago. Both images were taken with the Wide Field and Planetary
Camera-2 and will be available January 10 and 11, respectively.
"Ring World" Colliding Galaxies (image available January 10)
This image shows a rare and spectacular head-on collision between two
galaxies located 500 million light-years away in the constellation
Sculptor. The galaxy, called the Cartwheel Galaxy, is surrounded by
a ring-like feature which is a direct result of a smaller intruder
galaxy -- possibly one of two objects to the right of the ring --
which careened through the core of the Cartwheel galaxy. The
collision sent a ripple of energy into space, plowing gas and dust in
front of it. The ring is now a stellar birthplace for at least
several billion new stars and is so large the entire Milky Way Galaxy
would fit inside. Hubble resolves bright blue knots that are
gigantic clusters of newborn stars and immense loops and bubbles
blown into space by exploding stars (supernovae) going off like a
string of firecrackers.
"Cat's Eye Nebula" (image available January 11)
A fascinating and colorful preview of the possible eventual fate of
Earth's sun is evident in the Hubble image of a planetary nebula,
named NGC 6543 but nicknamed the "Cat's Eye Nebula," which is in the
last stages of its life after an explosion about 1,000 years ago blew
away the outer gas layers of the star.
This image reveals surprisingly intricate structures including
concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas and unusual shock-
induced knots of gas. The nebula, located 3,000 light-years away in
the northern constellation Draco, is a visual "fossil record" of the
dynamics and late evolution of a dying star.
Images are available to news media representatives by sending a fax
request on letterhead to the NASA Headquarters Broadcast and Imaging
Branch at 202/358-4333.
Photo numbers are:
"Cats Eye" Planetary Nebula NGC 6543:
B&W: 95-H-23 Color: 95-HC-23
"Ring World" Galaxy:
B&W: 95-H-24 Color: 95-HC-24
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- T o d d E. V a n H o o s e a r -
``'''vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu - vanhoose@msu.edu - vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu
(._.) Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI USA
(_) Computer Laboratory - Department of Communication
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