The Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the Hubble Space Telescope has provided many of the observatory’s most spectacular – and scientifically valuable – images. NASA and ESA present samples of its work in a 20th anniversary collection.
Two galaxies passing through one another in a head-on collision generate a burst of star formation in an intriguing triangular shape caused by ongoing gravitational interactions.
In another major milestone, the James Webb Space Telescope has captured first-light images of a star to help engineers align the 18 segments making up its primary mirror.
The spiral arms of galaxy NGC 4603 are home to multiple Cepheid variable stars, “standard candles” that helped astronomers pin down the age of the universe in one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s first major projects.
The Hubble Space Telescope captures a high-resolution view of NGC 6946, the “Fireworks Galaxy,” a face-on intermediate spiral with an extreme rate of star formation.
The Hubble Space Telescope captures a bird’s eye view of an energetic Seyfert galaxy, showing a compact, brilliant core that likely harbours a supermassive black hole.
Across a gulf of 70 million light years, the brilliant flare of an exploding star shines like a beacon in the outer reaches of a spiral galaxy, providing tell-tale clues about the expansion rate of the universe.
The Hubble Space Telescope checks in on Jupiter, capturing another sunning view of the giant planet, its Great Red Spot and a colourful tapestry of turbulant cloud bands.