Hubble Releases 30 New Celestial Images to Celebrate its 30th Anniversary
In celebration of its 30th anniversary capturing stunning images of stellar objects, NASA has released 30 newly-processed Hubble images featuring galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae.
All of 30 of the images are being added to what amateur astronomers know as the Caldwell catalog, which was compiled by British amateur astronomer and science communicator Sir Patrick Caldwell-Moore and inspired by the Messier catalog. The catalog was published by Sky & Telescope magazine 25 years ago, in December 1995. Caldwell’s catalog highlights 109 galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae that are bright enough to be seen by amateur astronomers.
Caldwell 45 | Credits: NASA, ESA, J. Lee (California Institute of Technology), and A. Filippenko (University of California – Berkeley); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 17 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and A. Ferguson (University of Edinburgh, Institute for Astronomy); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 18 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and A. Ferguson (University of Edinburgh, Institute for Astronomy); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 29 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and L. Ho (Peking University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
NASA says that the Caldwell objects are an interesting target for amateur astronomers around the world because the Caldwell objects are split between the northern and southern hemisphere skies.
The 30 additional images have been taken by Hubble throughout its 30-year career and used for scientific research and tests, but had not been fully processed for public release until now.
Caldwell 53 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. Erwin (University of Alabama); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 72 | Credits: NASA, ESA, R. de Jong (Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam [AIP]), and G. Illingworth (University of California – Santa Cruz); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 73 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and G. Piotto (Università degli Studi di Padova); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 78 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and G. Piotto (Università degli Studi di Padova); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
Some images do not fully capture the entire Caldwell object, like the ones below, because of Hubble’s detailed field of view.
Caldwell 2 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and H. Bond (Pennsylvania State University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 36 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and S. Smartt (The Queen’s University of Belfast); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 83 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and H. Falcke (Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 14 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and S. Casertano (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
The images added this month boost the collection of photos to 87 of the total 109 objects.
Caldwell 40 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and P. Erwin (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 99 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and R. Sahai (Jet Propulsion Laboratory); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Caldwell 89 | Credits: NASA, ESA, and A. Riess (Johns Hopkins University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
To see the full set of images from the Caldwell collection, you can peruse the catalog here.
Hubble was launched aboard Space shuttle Discovery in April of 1990 and has been upgraded five times by crews of astronauts. Hubble turned 30 years old on December 11, 2020 and is now considered to be even better than the day it was launched. As such, it will continue to make groundbreaking discoveries that NASA hopes will advance our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble may be 30, but it is most certainly not old.
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