Hubble celebrates his 27th birthday with two friends

Hubble celebrates his 27th birthday with two friends

The image shows galaxies NGC 4302 (edge) and NGC 4298, located 55 million light years away. They were noticed by Hubble, who were going to celebrate their 27th year in orbit.

This is an amazing cosmic collaboration between two incredibly different spiral galaxies NGC 4302 and NGC 4298, filmed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Starlight and brown dust structures are transmitted in the frame. This is an excellent demonstration of Hubble’s capabilities, released in celebration of the 27th anniversary of the telescope.

April 24, 1990 was the launch day of the revolutionary Hubble Space Telescope. This is the first orbital object in the world that has been studying unique cosmic wonders for 27 years. Not only scientists, but all the inhabitants of the planet were given the opportunity to see for the first time what was hidden from humanity the entire history of the Earth. He not only showed the beauty of deep space, but also allowed scientists to better study the structure of the Universe and its objects.

ESA and NASA celebrate Hubble’s birthday every year. This year's anniversary snapshot depicts a pair of spiral galaxies NGC 4302 and NGC 4298 located in the northern constellation Volos of Veronica. In 1784 astronomer William Herschel found them. Together contain almost 2000 individual galaxies. NGC 4302 is slightly smaller than the Milky Way, and the inclined NGC 4298 is half the size of the first. At the closest points they are separated by 7000 light years. This is very close, so scientists do not understand where the obvious lack of strong gravitational contact has come from. Between them only a weak bridge of neutral gaseous hydrogen was formed, imperceptible in this image. There are also no long tidal tails and deformations in the structure.

Scientists have found a weak gas tail flowing from two galaxies from the center of the Virgo cluster. Most likely, the galactic couple is now falling into the center of the cluster, where one of the most massive galaxies is hidden - Messier 87.

Even in the 27th year of its existence, Hubble continues to send incredible space images. And while everyone is waiting for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble raises the bar, showing that he is able to offer his services for many years to come. Scientists expect their simultaneous work to help double the resources for studying the universe.

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