This Wednesday NASA celebrates 34 years of one of its most important launches, the Hubble telescope.
“Since its launch in 1990, Hubble has changed the way we understand our universe. The legendary mission continues to deliver groundbreaking science and remains the most scientifically productive space astrophysics mission in the world,” NASA said.
Hubble, has observed planets inside and outside our solar system and some of the most distant stars and galaxies seen so fardepending on the organization.
To celebrate the 34th anniversary of Hubble’s departure into space, NASA’s social networks shared one of the most impressive images that the space telescope has captured.
This is the Dumbbell Nebula, also known as Messier 76 or M76, located 3,400 light years away in the northern circumpolar constellation of Perseus.
NASA explains on its website that the Little Dumbbell Nebula gets its name from its shape, which is “a two-lobed structure of colorful, mottled, bright gases that resembles a balloon compressed around the waist”.
“Like an inflated balloon, the lobes expand into space from a dying star seen as a white dot in the center,” the agency says.
Little Dumbbell’s striking color is due to the star’s scorching ultra-hot ultraviolet radiation, which causes its gases to glow.
In this case, The red color comes from nitrogen and the blue from oxygen.
