Great pictures of the cosmic crab on the 29th anniversary of the Hubble Telescope
The cosmic crab has never looked so good. The anniversary photographs of the nebula around 7,000 light-years from Earth delight.
It's been 29 years since the Hubble Space Telescope has been circulating in orbit around the world and carrying out hundreds of thousands of space images. Every year, the famous telescope makes its anniversary photos . Thanks to this tradition, in 2019 we can see new photographs of the amazing Southern Crab Nebula.
https://youtu.be/MWW3_srdxBM
Red giant and white dwarf, or cosmic crab
The Southern Crab (officially called Henize 2-104) is a planetary nebula in the Centaur's constellation about 7000 light-years distant from Earth. It consists of two main objects: a red giant and a white dwarf.
https://youtu.be/7g4ZZbVSpdo
Elements that look like legs and crab claws are actually bubbles of gas and dust. They are ejected by both stars in the very center of the nebula.
The red giant is a dying star that is in the process of releasing the outer shell of matter. Part of his ejected material is attracted by his companion. When the white dwarf draws in enough material, he also throws his material out as a result of the eruption. In this way, the structures that we see in the picture arise.
Astronomers say that this phenomenon happened twice in a relatively recent past. They also think that soon the red giant will finish throwing out his outer layers and stop feeding the white dwarf. However, before this happens, we expect further eruptions. And even more complex, complicated and incredibly beautiful structures around the stars.
Southern Krab Nebula someday and today
The Southern Crab Nebula was noticed by astronomers in the late sixties, but it was initially thought to be an ordinary star. It was only in 1989, thanks to the photos taken at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, that it was possible to look at it closely.
However, the real breakthrough came only in 1999, when our lens - the Hubble Telescope - aimed its lens towards the nebula. His photographs made it possible to see the complex structure of the nebula.
The latest pictures of the Southern Crab Nebula were made in March 2019. Their high quality is due to the latest version of the Wide Field Camera 3. The images are a combination of observations made in various colors of light that correspond to the glowing gases in the nebula. Red is sulfur, green is hydrogen, orange is nitrogen and blue is oxygen.
The difference in the image quality of the first and modern image of the nebula is huge
Both photographs were taken by the Hubble Telescope, but with other cameras. The Hubble telescope was serviced five times in space. Already after HST was elevated to orbit, it turned out that the main mirror had an incorrect profile. This translated into lower image quality than was initially assumed.
Thanks to service missions, it was possible not only to repair the mirror, but also other components, and to replace the observation instruments with more modern ones. The Wide Field Camera 3 currently in use was installed in May 2009.
Hubble was launched into space on April 24, 1990. For over 29 years, the telescope has changed astronomy forever. Thanks to the joint efforts of NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Agency in the USA) and ESA (European Space Agency), people all over the world can admire breathtaking photographs of various corners of space . Thank you!
Great pictures of the cosmic crab on the 29th anniversary of the Hubble Telescope
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