AssetID: 54684667
Headline: Hubble Telescope's 35th Birthday Celebrated With Amazing Images Of Mars And More
Caption: To commemorate the 35th anniversary of its launch into orbit, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been trained on a series of visually striking cosmic targets, offering a breathtaking glimpse into the wonders of the universe – from our own planetary neighbour Mars, to faraway nebulae and distant galaxies. In the upper left of the new image montage is the planet Mars, captured between 28 and 30 December 2024, when it was approximately 61 million miles (98 million kilometres) from Earth. Thanks to Hubble’s ultraviolet imaging capabilities, thin water-ice clouds can be seen shrouding the Red Planet, lending it a distinctly frosted appearance. In the upper right sits the ethereal planetary nebula NGC 2899. Resembling the delicate wings of a moth, this structure is carved by intense radiation and stellar winds emanating from a dying white dwarf star at its heart, with temperatures approaching 40,000 degrees Fahrenheit (over 22,000 degrees Celsius). The vivid hues in the image stem from glowing hydrogen and oxygen gases. Shown in the lower left is a close-up of the Rosette Nebula, a vast star-forming region stretching 100 light-years across and located roughly 5,200 light-years from Earth. Hubble captures a section where dark clouds of hydrogen gas, laced with cosmic dust, are silhouetted against a backdrop of brilliant starlight. A broader, ground-based view highlights the nebula’s immense scale, with Hubble's pinpointed region marked out. In the lower right, Hubble reveals a detailed face-on image of NGC 5335, a barred spiral galaxy categorised as "flocculent" due to its patchy, woolly arms. A bright central core, criss-crossed by a distinctive bar structure, is surrounded by sweeping arms speckled with blue stars and streaked with dark dust. Thousands of even more distant galaxies pepper the blackness beyond.
Keywords: nasa,feature,photo,hubble,mars,space,science,astronomy,galaxies
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