A Stellar WOW

 

For 30th Anniversary, Hubble Releases Images of 30 Celestial Gems

"The Hubble Space Telescope turned 30 this year, and for the occasion, it’s sharing a present with you. NASA has just released dozens of newly processed Hubble images featuring 30 dazzling galaxies, sparkling star clusters, and ethereal nebulae.

And there’s something extra special about these 30 celestial gems: All of them can be seen through backyard telescopes. Some of them can also be spotted with binoculars or even the naked eye."

 

"This newly released collection of more than 50 Hubble images feature 30 objects in the Caldwell catalog. (Some of these 30 Caldwell objects appear in more than one new Hubble image.) These images have been taken by Hubble throughout its career and used for scientific research or for engineering tests, but NASA had not fully processed the images for public release until now.

Because of Hubble’s detailed field of view, some of its pictures do not capture the entirety of a Caldwell object, sometimes instead zooming in on clusters of young stars in the arms of a spiral galaxy, stars on the outskirts of a cluster, or the zombie star at the heart of a nebula. But in other cases, a mosaic of Hubble observations assemble to create a complete or nearly complete portrait of the celestial marvel."

Or, as Tim, the non-scientist says:

WOW!