Hubblecast

One of the big mysteries in astronomy is how galaxies grow and evolve over time. Collisions between galaxies are thought to be key events that shape their development. A stunning collection of 59 new images of colliding galaxies has been released to mark the 18th anniversary of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. They give us a unique insight into how galaxies collide to form larger galaxies.

For astronomers, Omega Centauri has been an outcast amongst globular clusters for a long time. A new result obtained by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini Observatory provides a surprising explanation for Omega Centauri's peculiarities.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made the first detection ever of an organic molecule in a planet orbiting another star. This breakthrough is an important step in eventually identifying signs of life on a planet outside our Solar System.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image of the galaxy NGC 1132 which is most likely to be a cosmic fossil - the aftermath of an enormous multi-galactic pile-up, where the carnage of collision after collision has built up a brilliant but fuzzy giant elliptical galaxy far outshining typical galaxies.

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have found the first clear evidence of high altitude haze or clouds in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet. This discovery reveals a deeper understanding of the class of giant planets that astronomers call hot Jupiters.

The galaxy Messier 74 lies at a distance of over 30 million light years. In this latest image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope the enormous swirls of this stunning spiral galaxy arc across space, adorned with glowing pink regions of hydrogen gas and lit by the pale blue light of millions of newly formed stars.

We live in a Universe of unimaginable scale and almost incomprehensible beauty. How is the light from the Universe transformed into the images that have inspired generations by making the Universe come to life?

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular image of NGC 3603, a giant nebula hosting one of the most prominent massive young clusters in the Milky Way. This is a splendid location for continued studies of stellar birth in star forming regions.

By scrutinising the Hubble Ultra Deep field - the deepest image of the sky ever made - the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope have joined forces to discover nine of the smallest, faintest, most compact galaxies ever observed in the distant Universe.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered magnificent sections of the Veil Nebula - the shattered remains of a supernova that exploded some 5-10,000 years ago. The new Hubble images provide beautiful views of the delicate, wispy structure resulting from this cosmic explosion.

Have you ever wondered why some telescopes are launched into space while others are built on remote mountain tops? What is actually the best for astronomy? Here we provide a ringside view of the fight for the elusive photons from deep space - is it a battle of the telescope giants?

An international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a ghostly ring of dark matter formed long ago during a colossal collision between two galaxy clusters. This is the first time that dark matter has been found with a distribution that differs substantially from the distribution of ordinary matter.

New Hubble observations of the massive globular cluster NGC 2808 provide evidence that it has three generations of stars instead of one as current theories predict.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 17th birthday with one of the largest panoramic images ever taken. The violent stellar fireworks of the Carina Nebula.

Hubble has delivered an unrivalled snapshot of the nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672. This remarkable image provides a high-definition view of the galaxy's large bar, its fields of star-forming clouds and its dark bands of interstellar dust.