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See the delicate beauty of the Eskimo Nebula

Picture an Eskimo 5,000 light years away? No trouble for Hubble

BY MICHAEL HANLON - SCIENCE EDITOR

FROM Earth, the space spectacular pictured above looks like a man's face peeping out from an anorak - hence its name, the Eskimo nebula.

But from 400 miles up in orbit, with the keen eye of the Hubble space telescope, the Eskimo is revealed as an object of sublime beauty. Hubble, repaired over Christmas by a seven-strong team of astronauts including Briton Michael Foale, is back in business.

And it has sent us some of the most stunning images it has ever produced, including this picture of a doomed star in the constellation Gemini 5,000 light years away - that's about 26 thousand million million miles.

To test the repairs and computer upgrades to the decade-old, #1billion orbiting observatory, Nasa astronomers pointed Hubble at two of the most photogenic celestial targets in existence.

The Eskimo nebula is an intricate structure of gas streamers around a dying, sun-like star. Designated NGC 2392, it took its colloquial name from the fact that, as seen through ground-based telescopes, it resembles a face inside a furry parka.

In Hubble's sharp view, the "furry" features resemble giant comets all pointing away from the central star, like the spokes of a wheel. Patrick Harrington, of the University of Maryland, said: "Of all the planetary nebulae, this new image is unsurpassed in subtle beauty." Astronomers believe the nebula began forming about 10,000 years ago, when the dying star began ejecting material into space.

It is believed that a ring of dense material around the star's equator was ejected during its "red giant" phase - when senile stars swell up to grotesque proportions and start shedding red-hot gas. Steven Beckwith, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, said: "After a two-month hiatus, it is a tremendous boost to astronomy to see Hubble back in action. Nasa has restored the observatory to a condition that was better than it was before."

The second photograph seen here shows a cluster of galaxies called Abell 2218, which acts like a giant zoom lens in space. The gravitational field of the cluster magnifies the light of more distant galaxies far behind it - an effect predicted by Albert Einstein 80 years before Hubble was built.

The cluster was photographed in full colour, providing astronomers with a spectacular and unique new view of the early universe.

All the new equipment installed on the telescope in December is working perfectly, including the new computer, solid state recorder and fine guidance sensor. In particular, new gyroscopes are allowing Hubble to point with precision at celestial objects.Two key instruments, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, are now being used for routine observations by astronomers worldwide.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), January 26, 2000

Answers

Pretty.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), January 26, 2000.

Looks more like a PitBull to me.

-- James (brkthru@cableone.net), January 26, 2000.

yes, awesome.

-- boop (leafyspurge@hotmail.com), January 26, 2000.

Response to OT - Picture an Eskimo 5,000 light years away? No trouble for Hubble - Click Link To See Awesome Photo -

A bit better picture

-- Brian (imager@home.com), January 26, 2000.

Yep! A PITBULL.

-- James (brkthru@cableone.net), January 26, 2000.

Looks like lung cancer to me. Mental note: stop smoking.

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), January 26, 2000.

I think it looks more like Ronald McDonald or Bozo the Clown.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), January 26, 2000.

"Kenny" on southpark

-- Laurie (laurelayn@yahoo.net), January 26, 2000.

Backdrop at Big Brother and the Holding Company concert, Fillmore West, 1967.

-- JB (noway@jose.com), January 26, 2000.

Orange Sunshine blotter acid, 1976

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), January 26, 2000.