2004 (continued)

• 5/3/2004 STScI-2004-46 51. Demise in Fire and Ice The Bug Nebula, NGC 6302, is one of the brightest and most extreme planetary nebulae known. The fiery, dying star at its center is shrouded by a blanket of icy hailstones. (More)
• 3/4/2004 STScI-2004-10 52. Space Phenomenon Imitates Art in Universe's Version of van Gogh Painting This image resembling Vincent van Gogh's painting, "Starry Night," is Hubble's latest view of an expanding halo of light around a distant... (More)

2003

• 12/4/2003 STScI-2003-30 53. Firestorm of Star Birth Seen in a Local Galaxy This festively colorful nebula, called NGC 604, is one of the largest known seething cauldrons of star birth seen in a nearby galaxy. NGC 604 is similar... (More)
• 11/6/2003 STScI-2003-31 54. Hubble Photographs Turbulent Neighborhood Near Eruptive Star Dramatic dark dust knots and complex structures are sculpted by the high-velocity stellar winds and high-energy radiation from the ultra-luminous variable... (More)
• 7/3/2003 STScI-2003-20 55. Celestial Fireworks Resembling the puffs of smoke and sparks from a summer fireworks display in this image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, these delicate filaments are actually sheets of debris from a stellar... (More)
• 6/5/2003 STScI-2003-16 56. Supernova Shock Wave Paints Cosmic Portrait Remnants from a star that exploded thousands of years ago created a celestial abstract portrait, as captured in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the Pencil Nebula. Officially... (More)
• 5/9/2003 STScI-2003-11 57. Iridescent Glory of Nearby Planetary Nebula Showcased on Astronomy Day This photograph of the coil-shaped Helix Nebula is one of the largest and most detailed celestial images ever made. The composite picture is a seamless... (More)
• 4/24/2003 STScI-2003-13 58. Hubble Captures a Perfect Storm of Turbulent Gases Resembling the fury of a raging sea, this image actually shows a bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen gas and small amounts of other elements such as oxygen and sulfur. (More)
• 4/3/2003 STScI-2003-09 59. Rainbow Image of a Dusty Star Resembling a rippling pool illuminated by underwater lights, the Egg Nebula offers astronomers a special look at the normally invisible dust shells swaddling an aging star. (More)
• 3/26/2003 STScI-2003-10 60. Hubble Watches Light from Mysterious Erupting Star Reverberate Through Space In January 2002, a dull star in an obscure constellation suddenly became 600,000 times more luminous than our Sun, temporarily making it the brightest... (More)
• 2/10/2003 STScI-2003-06 61. Close-up of M27, the Dumbbell Nebula An aging star's last hurrah is creating a flurry of glowing knots of gas that appear to be streaking through space in this close-up image of the Dumbbell Nebula... (More)

2002

• 12/5/2002 STScI-2002-29 62. Hubble Photographs 'Double Bubble' in Neighboring Galaxy A unique peanut-shaped cocoon of dust, called a reflection nebula, surrounds a cluster of young, hot stars in this view from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The "double bubble,"... (More)
• 11/7/2002 STScI-2002-25 63. An Old Star Gives Up the Ghost NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has caught a glimpse of a colorful cosmic ghost, the glowing remains of a dying star called NGC 6369. The glowing apparition is known to amateur... (More)
• 9/19/2002 STScI-2002-24 64. Space Movie Reveals Shocking Secrets of the Crab Pulsar Just when it seemed like the summer movie season had ended, two of NASA's Great Observatories have produced their own action movie. Multiple observations... (More)
• 8/1/2002 STScI-2002-19 65. Hubble Astronomers Feast on an Interstellar Hamburger Hold the pickles; hold the lettuce. Space is serving up giant hamburgers. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has snapped a photograph of a strange object that bears an uncanny... (More)
• 7/3/2002 STScI-2002-15 66. Colorful Fireworks Finale Caps a Star's Life Glowing gaseous streamers of red, white, and blue — as well as green and pink — illuminate the heavens like Fourth of July fireworks. The colorful streamers... (More)
• 6/13/2002 STScI-2002-14 67. Beauty in the Eye of Hubble The Hubble telescope reveals a rainbow of colors in this dying star, called IC 4406. Like many other so-called planetary nebulae, IC 4406 exhibits a high degree of symmetry. (More)
• 6/5/2002 STScI-2002-13 68. Hubble's Infrared Camera is Back in Business — New Images Released After more than three years of inactivity, the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) has reopened its “near-infrared... (More)
• 5/9/2002 STScI-2002-12 69. Gaseous Streamers Flutter in Stellar Breeze N44C is the designation for a region of ionized hydrogen gas surrounding an association of young stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a nearby, small companion... (More)
• 3/6/2002 STScI-2002-05 70. A Bow Shock Near a Young Star The Hubble Space Telescope continues to reveal various stunning and intricate treasures that reside within the nearby, intense star-forming... (More)
• 1/3/2002 STScI-2002-01 71. Thackeray's Globules in IC 2944 Strangely glowing dark clouds float serenely in this remarkable and beautiful image taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. These dense, opaque dust clouds — known as "globules" —... (More)

2001

• 12/19/2001 STScI-2001-34 72. Hubble Sends Season's Greetings from the Cosmos to Earth Looking like a colorful holiday card, this image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals a vibrant green and red... (More)
• 12/6/2001 STScI-2001-39 73. A Giant Star Factory in Neighboring Galaxy NGC 6822 Resembling curling flames from a campfire, this magnificent nebula in a neighboring galaxy is giving astronomers new insight... (More)
• 7/26/2001 STScI-2001-21 74. Hubble's Panoramic Portrait of a Vast Star-Forming Region NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has snapped a panoramic portrait of a vast, sculpted landscape of gas and dust where thousands of stars are being born. This fertile... (More)
• 4/26/2001 STScI-2001-13 75. 'Survivor' Planets: Astronomers Witness First Steps of Planet Growth - and Destruction Planet formation is a hazardous process. New pictures from the Hubble telescope are giving astronomers the first direct visual evidence... (More)
• 4/24/2001 STScI-2001-12 76. By Popular Demand: Hubble Observes the Horsehead Nebula Rising from a sea of dust and gas like a giant seahorse, the Horsehead nebula is one of the most photographed objects in the sky. The Hubble telescope took a close-up... (More)
• 3/28/2001 STScI-2001-11 77. Massive Infant Stars Rock their Cradle Extremely intense radiation from newly born, ultra-bright stars has blown a glowing spherical bubble in the nebula N83B, also known as NGC 1748. A new Hubble telescope... (More)
• 2/1/2001 STScI-2001-05 78. Astro-Entomology? Ant-like Space Structure Previews Death of Our Sun From ground-based telescopes, this cosmic object -- the glowing remains of a dying, Sun-like star -- resembles the head and thorax of a garden-variety ant. (More)

2000

• 12/6/2000 STScI-2000-36 79. Ghostly Reflections in the Pleiades This ghostly apparition is actually an interstellar cloud caught in the process of destruction by strong radiation from a nearby hot star. This haunting picture, snapped... (More)
• 10/5/2000 STScI-2000-30 80. Hubble Peeks into a Stellar Nursery in a Nearby Galaxy The Hubble telescope has peered deep into a neighboring galaxy to reveal details of the formation of new stars. Hubble's target was a newborn star cluster... (More)
• 9/7/2000 STScI-2000-28 81. IC 418: The "Spirograph" Nebula Glowing like a multi-faceted jewel, the planetary nebula IC 418 lies about 2,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lepus. In this picture, the Hubble telescope reveals some remarkable... (More)
• 8/31/2000 STScI-2000-24 82. He 2-90's Appearance Deceives Astronomers Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have stumbled upon a mysterious object that is grudgingly yielding clues to its identity. A quick glance at the Hubble picture... (More)
• 8/24/2000 STScI-2000-19 83. Hubble Spies Brown Dwarfs in Nearby Stellar Nursery Probing deep within a neighborhood stellar nursery, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope uncovered a swarm of newborn brown dwarfs. The orbiting observatory's near-infrared... (More)
• 8/3/2000 STScI-2000-25 84. A Dying Star in Globular Cluster M15 The globular cluster M15 is shown in this color image obtained with the Hubble telescope. Lying some 40,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus... (More)
• 7/13/2000 STScI-2000-23 85. Hubble Watches Star Tear Apart its Neighborhood The Hubble telescope has snapped a view of a stellar demolition zone in our Milky Way Galaxy: a massive star, nearing the end of its life, tearing apart the shell of surrounding... (More)
• 6/1/2000 STScI-2000-15 86. Peering into the Heart of the Crab Nebula In the year 1054 A.D., Chinese astronomers were startled by the appearance of a new star, so bright that it was visible in broad daylight for several weeks. (More)
• 4/6/2000 STScI-2000-12 87. The Glowing Eye of NGC 6751 The Hubble telescope has spied a giant celestial "eye," known as planetary nebula NGC 6751. The Hubble Heritage Project is releasing this picture to commemorate the Hubble telescope's... (More)
• 3/9/2000 STScI-2000-09 88. Hubble Surveys Dying Stars in Nearby Galaxy From ground-based telescopes, the glowing gaseous debris surrounding dying, sun-like stars in a nearby galaxy, called the Large Magellanic Cloud, appear as small, shapeless... (More)
• 3/2/2000 STScI-2000-10 89. Hubble Takes a Close-up View of a Reflection Nebula in Orion Just weeks after NASA astronauts repaired the Hubble Space Telescope in December 1999, the Hubble Heritage Project snapped this picture... (More)
• 2/3/2000 STScI-2000-06 90. Light and Shadow in the Carina Nebula When 19th century astronomer Sir John Herschel spied a swirling cloud of gas with a hole punched through it, he dubbed it the Keyhole Nebula. Now the Hubble telescope... (More)
• 1/24/2000 STScI-2000-07 91. Hubble Reopens Its Eye on the Universe The Hubble telescope reopened its "eye" on the universe following a successful December 1999 servicing mission by imaging a Sun-like star, dubbed the "Eskimo Nebula"... (More)
• 1/13/2000 STScI-2000-04 92. An Expanding Bubble in Space A star 40 times more massive than the Sun is blowing a giant bubble of material into space. In this colorful picture, the Hubble telescope has captured a glimpse of the expanding bubble... (More)
• 1/6/2000 STScI-2000-01 93. Fireworks of Star Formation Light up a Galaxy Pictures obtained with the Hubble telescope reveal episodes of star formation that are occurring across the face of the nearby galaxy NGC 4214. Located some 13 million... (More)

1999

• 11/9/1999 STScI-1999-42 94. The Trifid Nebula: Stellar Sibling Rivalry This Hubble telescope image of the Trifid Nebula reveals a stellar nursery being torn apart by radiation from a nearby, massive star. The picture also provides a peek at embryonic... (More)
• 10/19/1999 STScI-1999-39 95. The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A Planetary Nebula in the Making This oddly shaped object is an aging, Sun-like star near the end of its life. The Hubble telescope's infrared camera, called the Near Infrared... (More)
• 10/7/1999 STScI-1999-35 96. Hubble Heritage Project's First Anniversary To mark the first anniversary of the Hubble Heritage Project, we present four Hubble telescope images of nebulae surrounding stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy. ... (More)
• 9/29/1999 STScI-1999-33 97. Hubble Captures a Grand View of the Birth of "Hefty" Stars Pictures taken in infrared and visible light by the Hubble telescope recount a vivid story of the turbulent birthing process of massive stars. (More)
• 8/24/1999 STScI-1999-32 98. Symbiotic Star Blows Bubbles into Space A tempestuous relationship between an unlikely pair of stars may have created an oddly shaped gaseous nebula that resembles nesting hourglasses. (More)
• 6/10/1999 STScI-1999-23 99. A Butterfly-Shaped "Papillon" Nebula Yields Secrets of Massive Star Birth Here is a Hubble telescope view of a turbulent cauldron of star birth called N159, which is taking place 170,000 light-years away in our satellite galaxy... (More)
• 6/1/1999 STScI-1999-20 100. Hubble Snapshot Captures Life Cycle of Stars In this stunning picture of the giant galactic nebula NGC 3603, the Hubble telescope's crisp resolution captures various stages... (More)