Hubble Anniversary Image Captures Roiling Heart of Vast Stellar Nursery

Stsci_2018-21b_1024

stsci_2018-21b April 19th, 2018

Credit: NASA, ESA, and STScI

For 28 years, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been delivering breathtaking views of the universe. Although the telescope has made more than 1.5 million observations of over 40,000 space objects, it is still uncovering stunning celestial gems.

The latest offering is this image of the Lagoon Nebula to celebrate the telescope’s anniversary. Hubble shows this vast stellar nursery in stunning unprecedented detail.

At the center of the photo, a monster young star 200,000 times brighter than our Sun is blasting powerful ultraviolet radiation and hurricane-like stellar winds, carving out a fantasy landscape of ridges, cavities, and mountains of gas and dust. This region epitomizes a typical, raucous stellar nursery full of birth and destruction.

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2018/news-2018-21

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image Use Policy: http://hubblesite.org/copyright/

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Object Name
Messier 8 • Lagoon Nebula
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Appearance > Emission

Distance Details Distance

Universescale1
4,000 light years
Stsci_2018-21b_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 3m 40.9s
DEC = -24° 22’ 56.6”
Orientation
North is 45.1° CW
Field of View
3.7 x 4.3 arcminutes
Constellation
Sagittarius

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Cyan Hubble (WFC3/IR) Infrared (Wide-J) 1.3 µm
Orange Hubble (WFC3/IR) Infrared (H) 1.6 µm
Spectrum_base
Cyan
Orange
Stsci_2018-21b_1280
×
ID
2018-21b
Subject Category
B.4.2.1  
Subject Name
Messier 8, Lagoon Nebula
Credits
NASA, ESA, and STScI
Release Date
2018-04-19T00:00:00
Lightyears
4,000
Redshift
4,000
Reference Url
https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2018/news-2018-21
Type
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble, Hubble
Instrument
WFC3/IR, WFC3/IR
Color Assignment
Cyan, Orange
Band
Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Wide-J, H
Central Wavelength
1250, 1600
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
270.92028223189, -24.38239846918
Reference Dimension
5600.00, 6500.00
Reference Pixel
2903.68511718842, 3266.28103445510
Scale
-0.00001112594, 0.00001112594
Rotation
-45.09325603543
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center
Creator (Curator)
STScI
URL
http://hubblesite.org
Name
Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
Email
outreach@stsci.edu
Telephone
410-338-4444
Address
3700 San Martin Drive
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
USA
Rights
http://hubblesite.org/copyright/
Publisher
STScI
Publisher ID
stsci
Resource ID
STSCI-H-p1821b-f-5600x6500.tif
Resource URL
https://mast.stsci.edu/api/latest/Download/file?uri=mast:OPO/product/STSCI-H-p1821b-f-5600x6500.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2018-04-11T09:57:33-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
4,000 light years

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