Skip to main content

Hubble captures a beautiful galaxy located in a cosmic crucible

NGC 1385, a spiral galaxy 68 million light-years from Earth.
This jewel-bright image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows NGC 1385, a spiral galaxy 68 million light-years from Earth, which lies in the constellation Fornax. The image was taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, which is often referred to as Hubble’s workhorse camera, thanks to its reliability and versatility. It was installed in 2009 when astronauts last visited Hubble, and 12 years later, it remains remarkably productive. ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team

This beautiful image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope may look peaceful, but it shows galaxy NGC 1385, which is located around 68 million light-years away in a constellation with a fiery name: Fornax, which means “furnace” in Latin.

Recommended Videos

“The constellation was named Fornax by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, a French astronomer born in 1713,” the Hubble scientists write. “Lacaille named 14 of the 88 constellations we still recognize today. He seems to have had a penchant for naming constellations after scientific instruments, including Atlia (the air pump), Norma (the ruler, or set square), and Telescopium (the telescope).” Lacaille spotted this particular constellation on a trip to the Cape of Good Hope in 1751, and he decided to name it after a chemist’s furnace in honor of the work being done by chemists at the time.

As for Hubble, this grand old telescope has had a difficult time lately, as it suffered from a computer error that caused all of its science instruments to be automatically switched into safe mode, during which time they do not collect any data. After some fast troubleshooting from the ground, engineers determined that the problem was in a piece of hardware that controls the science instruments, called the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling (SI C&DH) unit, and its power system, the Power Control Unit (PCU).

Fortunately, Hubble carries backup hardware in case an error like this occurs. After careful tests and preparations, the team was able to switch over to this backup hardware and get Hubble back up and running.

At over 30 years old, Hubble is getting on in years, and these kinds of errors are to be expected. This is one reason NASA plans to launch the James Webb Space Telescope soon, which will act as the successor to Hubble.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Hubble captures a galactic hat for its birthday
Located around 30 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, the Sombrero Galaxy is instantly recognisable. Viewed nearly edge on, the galaxy’s softly luminous bulge and sharply outlined disc resemble the rounded crown and broad brim of the Mexican hat from which the galaxy gets its name.

A newly released image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the charming Sombrero Galaxy, named for its resemblance to the iconic Mexican hat.

The galaxy might look familiar to you, as it is a well-known one and has previously been imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope. As Webb looks in the infrared wavelength while Hubble looks primarily in the visible light portion of the spectrum, the two telescopes get different views of the same object. In this case, Webb's image of the Sombrero shows more of the interior structure of the galaxy, while Hubble's image shows the glowing cloud of dust that comprises the disk.

Read more
James Webb observes a dying star creating a cosmic hourglass
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has taken the most detailed image of planetary nebula NGC 1514 to date thanks to its unique mid-infrared observations. Webb shows its rings as “fuzzy,” intricate clumps of dust. It’s also easier to see holes punched through the bright pink central region.

This strange image may look like a cell dividing, or perhaps even a brain, but it's neither of those things -- it's actually a space nebula, located 1,500 light-years away. Known affectionately as the Crystal Ball Nebula or more technically as NGC 1514, the striking structure of this object was created by the drama of a dying star.

The James Webb Space Telescope captured this image, showing the nebula in more detail than ever before. The object was previously observed using a NASA telescope called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in 2010 by researcher Mike Ressler of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and he had the opportunity to go back and look at the object again using the cutting-edge powers of Webb's MIRI instrument (Mid-Infrared Instrument). That showed up a set of fuzzy rings that were only visible in the infrared and some voids closer to the center of the object.

Read more
The final view from one of Hubble’s instruments is this gorgeous nebula
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the planetary nebula Kohoutek 4-55.

When a star comes to the end of its life and dies, it can be an epic and destructive event, throwing out an explosion of heat and light -- but it can create stunning new forms as well. A gorgeous new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows what can be created by the death of a star, featuring a striking object called a planetary nebula.

The name planetary nebula is confusing, as these objects don't actually have anything to do with planets. They were given that name by early astronomers, who saw round objects through their telescopes and assumed they were distant planets. In fact, they are clouds of dust and gas created by dying stars.

Read more