| Subject: Giant space bubble/Canadian technology to rescue Hubble |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 11:58:12 08/15/04 Sun
In reply to:
Betty
's message, "Hubbble telescope to die & be destoyed" on 12:26:05 02/15/04 Sun
The newest photo from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a giant bubble in space, formed as a stellar wind collides with gas.
To form the bubble in the newest photo from the fading telescope, a torrent of particles from a young, hot star rushes outward at 7 million kilometers per hour, according to a NASA press release accompanying the image.
By comparison, the stellar wind from our sun moves at less than 1.5 million km per hour.
The nascent star isn't alone in space, though, it's surrounded by gas. As the stellar wind punches into the gas, it pushes it out.
So-called nebulae, like this one, called N44F, have been found around mature, massive stars and around star clusters, NASA said. But they've rarely been seen around single stars, as is the case with N44F.
N44F holds more surprises for astronomers: several columns of cool dust and gas in its interior, similar to the Eagle Nebula's pillars that Hubble photographed 10 years ago.
These pillars look smaller than those in the Eagle Nebula because they're much farther away from us than the Eagle Nebula's.
N44F is located about 160,000 light-years away in the neighboring dwarf galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The picture of N44F was taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, using filters that isolate light emitted by sulphur (shown in blue) and hydrogen gas (shown in red, a 1,000-second exposure).
After many months of consideration, NASA this week gave the go ahead for Hubble to be repaired during a remote servicing mission by a Canadian robot. The mission, which could take place in about three years, will fix currently broken instruments, as well as install new instruments.
Hubble's replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, isn't scheduled to be launched until at least 2011.
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