Announcements

7 November 2014: "Thank you, Hubble friend! You're one in a million!" is the message that the people behind the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have sent to the one million friends of the ESA/Hubble Facebook page. Scientists, engineers, management staff, IT, web, graphics or communication specialists and others who have worked for Hubble wanted to thank the friends of Hubble who remind them of the meaning behind their daily efforts. In the first stage of the initiative, Hubble staff took selfies or group photos to show Facebook friends the people working behind the scenes for the world’s most loved space telescope. This resulted in a Facebook album where friends can meet our staff. The second stage invites members of the general public to get creative and write the message "I'm a Hubble friend! I'm one in a million", along with their surname and their occupation or a hobby that defines them, in an …

27 October 2014: Your Hubble Pictures, a new ESA/Hubble Flickr page, has been launched. It exists to host the drawings, paintings, processed astronomical images, models, photographs, cartoons and any other content inspired by Hubble and made by you.This new platform will bring together ESA/Hubble fans and combine the new content that would previously have been submitted to our Space Art, and Kid’s Drawings pages with a range of other creative pieces. When uploading your artworks, photography, or space images to the Flickr page please include your name, your country, your city or town, the title and description of your piece and tags to make your image searchable. We look forward to seeing the work you come up with! 

22 October 2014: Last month we asked the public to send us their Hubble- and astronomy-related questions, and the response was incredible! In this episode Dr J answers a selection of the questions that were specifically about Hubble itself. These range from where Hubble is and how it avoids crashing into space debris, to what the future holds for Hubble, how its life will end, and what will take its place. Watch out for the next episode in which the more science-related questions will get their turn. Credit: Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Georgia Bladon and Victoria Weller Von Ahlefeld Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA/Hubble Videos: NASA, ESA/Hubble Animations: Martin Kornmesser, Luis Calcada, NASA, ESA/Hubble, TU-Braunschweig Music: Johan B. Monell, movetwo, Hemeleen Web and technical support: Mathias Andre and Raquel Yumi Shida Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen

18 September 2014: Above the Earth's atmosphere, along Hubble's path, is a mysterious region known as the South Atlantic Anomaly. When satellites pass through this area they are bombarded with swarms of intensely high energy particles. This can produce "glitches" in astronomical data, malfunctioning of on-board electronics, and has even shut down unprepared spacecraft for weeks! This Hubblecast tells the story of what happens to Hubble in this hazardous region. Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Georgia Bladon Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA Videos: NASA, ESA Music: Johan B. Monell Web and technical support: Mathias Andre and Raquel Yumi Shida Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen

28 July 2014: The 15th issue of Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal is out now! In this issue you will find articles that outline best practice for astronomy outreach with the visually impaired, with the elderly, with children and with audiences from around the world — from rural Mexico to downtown Tokyo, Japan. Amongst the research articles there are resources on designing your own spectroscopy lab, building a do-it-yourself portable planetarium programme and using new analogies to bring the Universe down to a scale that can be better understood. There is all this, and more, in this free, peer-reviewed journal for astronomy communicators — now available for download.

10 July 2014: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a merger between two elliptical galaxies in the cluster known as SDSS J1531+3414. Finding two ellipticals merging is rare, but it is even rarer to find a merger between elliptical galaxies that is so rich in gas that it can induce star formation. This Hubblecast explores this rare event and the unusual “beads on a string” type of star formation that has occurred. Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Nicky Guttridge and Georgia Bladon Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA Videos: NASA, ESA Dripping water video (04:33): Dirk Essl Galaxy formation animation (04:44): Klaus Dolag (MPA, Garching) Music: Steve Buick Web and technical support: Mathias Andre and Raquel Yumi Shida Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen

19 June 2014: This new Hubblecast episode looks at starburst dwarf galaxies in a time when most of the stars in the Universe were formed. New NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations show that dwarf galaxies played a bigger role than expected in the early history of the Universe. This episode looks at the dwarf galaxies that form stars in sudden bursts, explores just how rampantly they are creating new stars and unravels when, where and how the stars in our Universe formed. Credit: ESA/Hubble Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Georgia Bladon Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA Videos: NASA, ESA Animation: Martin Kornmesser & Luis Calcada Galaxy Collision (6:39): Patrik Jonsson, Greg Novak & Joel Primack (UC Santa Cruz, USA) Music: Johan B. Monell (www.johanmonell.com) Web and technical support: Mathias Andre and Raquel Yumi Shida Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen

22 May 2014: This episode of the Hubblecast explores the intersection of science and art through the artwork of Tim Otto Roth — premiered in March 2014 at the fourth Hubble Space Telescope Conference at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. Heaven’s Carousel is a huge carousel like sound installation with 36 rotating illuminated loudspeakers. It was inspired by Hubble research, in particular the expanding Universe. Credit: ESA/Hubble Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Georgia Bladon & Nikita Marwaha Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA Doppler Effect Diagram: Tkarcher, improved by Tatoute Images of Edwin Hubble: Courtesy of the Archives, California Institute of Technology Heaven’s Carousel with crowd: Gabriel Brammer Videos: NASA, ESA Interview footage and installation footage: M. Estacion (STScI). Installation footage: Tim Otto Roth Timelapse videos: Martin Kornmesser and Christoph Malin Music: Toomas Erm Web and technical support: Mathias Andre and Raquel Yumi …

17 March 2014: In April of this year, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will be celebrating 24 years of observing. To celebrate this milestone, the observatory is releasing a brand new image of part of NGC 2174, otherwise known as the Monkey Head Nebula. This new Hubblecast episode showcases this beautiful image, which views a colourful region filled with young stars embedded among bright wisps of cosmic gas and dust. This image is to be unveiled at the Science with the Hubble Space Telescope IV conference, held at the prestigious Accademia dei Lincei in Rome from 17–20 March 2014. Credit: ESA/Hubble Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Nicola Guttridge/Georgia Bladon & Nikita Marwaha Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA New image of NGC 2174: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Videos: Zoom video: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI) Music: Steve Buick Web …

13 March 2014: From 17–20 March 2014, the renowned Accademia dei Lincei in Rome will host the Science with the Hubble Space Telescope IV conference. Subtitled "Looking to the Future", the conference will kick off the celebrations for the 25th year of operation for Hubble, and will highlight and celebrate the scientific breakthroughs and spectacular images that Hubble has made over the last two decades. It will also look into the future at the topics that will shape the field of astrophysics in the next decade — as well as pushing forward with discussions about Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. The scientific content of the conference will be complemented by art, with the inauguration of a new astronomy-inspired art installation that will link together the fields of art, music and astronomy, named Heaven's Carousel. Conceptualised and designed by German artist and composer Tim Otto Roth [1], the work is inspired by …

4 March 2014: The newest episode of the Hubblecast showcases striking new observations of a spiral galaxy moving through the heart of a galaxy cluster named Abell 3627. This cluster is violently ripping the spiral’s entrails out into space, leaving bright blue streaks as telltale clues to this cosmic crime. Credit: ESA/Hubble Directed by: Nicola Guttridge Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Nicola Guttridge/Georgia Bladon & Nikita Marwaha Presented by: Joe Liske (Dr J) Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA New image of ESO 137-001: NASA, ESA; acknowledgements: Ming Sun (UAH), and Serge Meunier Hubble-Chandra composite image: NASA, ESA, CXC Stephan’s Quintet: NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team I Zwicky 18: NASA, ESA, and A. Aloisi (European Space Agency and Space Telescope Science Institute) Messier 106: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and R. Gendler (for the Hubble Heritage Team). Acknowledgement: J. GaBany The “Comet galaxy”: …

7 February 2014: From 17–20 March 2014 the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy, will host the fourth Hubble Space Telescope conference: "Science with the Hubble Space Telescope IV — Looking to the Future". This conference will kick off the 25th anniversary of Hubble’s launch in 2015, celebrating the tremendous impact the telescope has had on science and society. "Science with the Hubble Space Telescope IV" aims to highlight the almost quarter century of ground-breaking science and spectacular images that have come from the telescope, as well as pushing forward with discussions about Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. The conference will also explore the key questions that will shape the field of astrophysics in the coming decades. The full and final conference programme is available here. It includes a wide variety of scientific talks and social events. Bona fide media representatives are invited to attend the conference, and may apply to …

24 January 2014: The January 2014 issue of the ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter is now available, bringing information on the European Hubble Space Telescope Archive at ESA's Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), a new sound and art installation, named the Heaven's Carousel, which will be inaugurated at the Science with the Hubble Space Telescope IV conference in March 2014, and a general update on the planning of this conference. The ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter promotes technical and operational news about the Hubble Space Telescope to European users and the scientific community. Released quarterly, this newsletter contains information about the scientific activities taking place with Hubble, calls for proposals, news on observing and programmatic developments, upcoming conferences, and other updates. This newsletter augments the information presented in public scientific press releases and announcements. It is also intended to create a communication channel between the European Hubble user community, and the staff scientists at ESA who support Hubble …

7 January 2014: Three-dimensional (3D) printers are transforming the business, medical, and consumer landscape by creating a vast variety of objects, including aeroplane parts, lamps, jewellery, and even artificial human bones. Now astronomers Carol Christian (STScI, Baltimore) and Antonella Nota (ESA and STScI, Baltimore) [1] are experimenting with the technology to transform astronomy education, turning images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope into tactile 3D pictures for people who cannot explore celestial wonders visually. Nota and Christian present their 3D representations at a press conference today, 7 January 2014, at the American Astronomical meeting in Washington, DC, USA. The project started when Christian was granted a Hubble education and public outreach grant, which allowed the purchase of a 3D printer in order to experiment with the technology to make Hubble tactile images. They started with a Hubble image of the bright star cluster NGC 602, located in our neighbouring galaxy the Small Magellanic …

17 December 2013: This episode of the Hubblecast explores striking new Hubble observations of a variable star known as RS Puppis. This star is growing brighter and dimmer as it pulsates over a period of five weeks. These pulsations have created a stunning example of a phenomenon known as a light echo, where light appears to reverberate through the foggy environment around the star. Credit: ESA/Hubble Directed by: Nicola GuttridgeVisual design and editing: Martin KornmesserWritten by: Nicola Guttridge & Georgia BladonPresented by: Joe Liske (Dr J)Narration: Sara Mendes da CostaImages: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-Hubble/Europe CollaborationAcknowledgment: H. Bond (STScI and Penn State University)View of Milky Way: Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org).Videos: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada), G. Bacon (STScI)Music: Zero ProjectWeb and technical support: Mathias Andre and Raquel Yumi ShidaCinematography: Peter Rixner (perix-media-gmbh.de)Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen

6 December 2013: Last month saw the inauguration of a new Hubble observing program: Frontier Fields. This will use the powerful magnifying properties of massive galaxy clusters to peer even deeper into the space around us. Hubblecast 70 takes a look at this phenomenon — known as gravitational lensing — exploring how it works, and how it can help us to uncover the secrets of the very distant Universe. Credit: ESA/Hubble Directed by: Nicola GuttridgeVisual design and editing: Martin KornmesserWritten by: Nicola Guttridge & Georgia BladonPresented by: Joe Liske (Dr J)Narration: Sara Mendes da CostaImages and animations: ESA/Hubble, NASA, Martin Kornmesser Clips from Hubble IMAX 3D video “Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time”. Credit: NASA, ESA and F. Summers (STScI) The Hubble Deep Fields Milky Way animation, gravitational lens animations: M. Kornmesser Gravitational lensing in action: NASA, ESA & L. Calçada Image of Abell 383 (heic1106a): NASA, ESA, J. Richard (CRAL) and J.-P. …

4 December 2013: A new book exploring Hubble and its discoveries, written by Oli Usher and Lars Lindberg Christensen [1], has now been published by Wiley and Springer. Entitled "The Universe Through the Eyes of Hubble", the book is a guided tour of the Universe, beginning with Hubble's history, technology, and optics, continuing on to explore Hubble's role in observing planets — both in our Solar System and beyond — stars, nebulae, galaxies, black holes, the dark cosmos, and mind-bending optical illusions. Finally, it looks to the future of Hubble: What is next for the space telescope? Hubble's most beautiful images — some of which have never before been published or seen outside the scientific community — are displayed alongside a mix of cutting-edge science that highlights the key discoveries of the past few years, and how they fit into Hubble's growing list of scientific achievements. The book is published in both English …

14 November 2013: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has observed many star clusters. As well as being scientifically interesting, these clusters produce stunning images, appearing like sparkling baubles in the sky. This episode of the Hubblecast looks at how Hubble has studied and imaged these beautiful objects, also introducing a striking new image of Messier 15, one of the oldest globular clusters in our skies. This is the best ever image of this cluster, which contains over 100 000 stars, a planetary nebula known as Pease 1 (otherwise named PN Ku 648 or Kürster 648), and something more exotic: at its core, it is thought to host a rare type of black hole. Credit: ESA/Hubble Directed by: Nicola Guttridge Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Nicola Guttridge Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: ESA/Hubble and NASA;View of the Milky Way: Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)ESO/MPE/VISTA/J. Emerson/Digitized Sky Survey 2Animations: M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada, …

17 October 2013: The October issue of the ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter is now available, bringing information on the upcoming “Science with the Hubble Space Telescope IV” conference in Rome in spring 2014, European involvement in Hubble, and the launch of the new Frontier Fields observing programme. The ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter promotes technical and operational news about the Hubble Space Telescope to European users and the scientific community. Released quarterly, this newsletter contains information about the scientific activities taking place with Hubble, calls for proposals, news on observing and programmatic developments, upcoming conferences, and other updates. This newsletter augments the information presented in public scientific press releases and announcements. It is also intended to create a communication channel between the European Hubble user community, and the staff scientists at ESA who support Hubble science operations. You can subscribe to the ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter here, or get in touch at hubblenewseurope@stsci.edu. If you are a …

2 September 2013: The Hubblecast, ESA/Hubble's video podcast series, has been awarded a Parsec Award for best "Fact Behind the Fiction" podcast series. From a final shortlist of 5, an international panel of judges considered the Hubblecast to best portray the facts — including the science, history, culture, and mythology — that influence and inspire speculative fiction podcasting. Exploring Hubble's discoveries, stunning images, complex topics within astronomy, the future of the space telescope and more, the Hubblecast releases 10 episodes annually and maintains an exceptionally high standard of visual and audio production. It was previously recognised for its excellence in 2011 by the MEDEA awards (ann1123), when a panel of judges "highly commended" the series for its innovation and good practice in the use of media in education. The Parsec Awards were established in 2006 by Mur Lafferty, Michael R. Mennenga, and Tracy Hickman to celebrate speculative fiction podcasting. Fans can nominate their …