NASA is celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope’s 32nd birthday with a stunning look at five
galaxies, a close-knit collection called the Hickson Compact Group 40.
This amazing assembly includes a giant elliptical galaxy, glowing with blended light from billions
of stars.
Several spiral galaxies show prominent dusty lanes that outline their winding spiral arms,
regions where star formation is active.
We see one galaxy oriented edge-on, showing off its prominent dust along its flattened
starry disk.
This eclectic group of galaxies is held together in a gravitational dance.
The group is so crowded that it could fit within a space less than twice the span of
our own Milky Way galaxy’s disk.
A mysterious and invisible form of matter, called dark matter, may explain this tightly
bound group.
When galaxies with a lot of dark matter come close together, that dark matter can form
a big cloud around the entire group.
As the galaxies plow through this cloud of dark matter, its gravitational effects act
like a frictional force that slows their motion, causing the galaxies to lose energy and fall
together.
This snapshot catches the galaxies at a very special moment in their lifetimes.
In about 1 billion years they will eventually collide and merge to form one giant elliptical
galaxy.
Hubble’s incredible sensitivity also picks up a diverse collection of more distant galaxies
glowing in the background.
Because Hubble orbits above Earth’s atmosphere, it can give us these clear views of the many
wonders in our universe.
For 32 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed the way we think of space and our
place in the cosmos.
Hubble has refined our understanding of the age of the universe and its rate of expansion.
Its deep field images have made it possible for us to see across billions of light-years,
revealing ancient, adolescent galaxies that we can compare with our own Milky Way.
Hubble remains in good health and is expected to continue its exploration of the universe
for years to come.
Five astronaut servicing missions, along with an expert technical team on the ground, have
kept the telescope at the peak of its scientific capabilities.
You can find out more about the Hubble Space Telescope at our website: nasa.gov/hubble
and on social media @NASAHubble.