Science Centre launches world's most spectacular image of space

Jan 12, 2006

What might initially appear to be a simple snapshot of space was unveiled today (Wednesday 11 January) as one of the best and most spectacular astronomical photographs ever taken.

The image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency) in 'exquisite and unprecedented detail' and revealed to the public at an international unveiling at the University of Wollongong's Science Centre and Planetarium.

The Centre's international standing has taken off after being chosen as one of only two launch sites in the country for the image of a turbulent star-formation region and one of astronomy's most dramatic and photogenic celestial objects - the Great Orion Nebula.

The Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in space on April 25, 1990. Hubble orbits above Earth's murky atmosphere, which distorts light from celestial objects. During its 15+ years of viewing the universe, the Hubble telescope has taken more than 700,000 snapshots of celestial objects such as galaxies, dying stars, and giant gas clouds, the birthplace of stars.

The telescope gave the world a front-row seat to watch chunks of a comet slam into the giant planet Jupiter and also photographed galaxies that existed billions of years ago, when the universe was a youngster.

Science Centre Director, Mr Glen Moore, said it was a major coup for the Science Centre to have access to the image.

“It shows the reputation and international standing in which our facility is held,” he said. “The image is a something that anyone interested in spectacular space imagery should definitely not miss."

The image was officially unveiled by Chairman of the Science Centre Advisory Council, Les Gore.

The crisp image of the Great Orion Nebula reveals a tapestry of star formation, from the dense pillars of gas and dust that may be the homes of fledgling stars to the hot, young, massive stars that have emerged from their gas-and-dust cocoons and are shaping the nebula with their powerful ultraviolet light.

The Orion Nebula is a perfect laboratory to study how stars are born because it is 1,500 light-years away, a relatively short distance within our 100,000-light-year-wide galaxy. Astronomers have a clear view into this crowded stellar maternity ward because massive stars in the centre of the nebula have blown out most of the dust and gas in which they formed, carving a cavity in the dark cloud. [Orion Press Release 11/1/06]

UOW's Science Centre will be able to keep a copy of the image for permanent exhibition.