Elain Brown Science 04.23.2022 10:Apr AM EDT

#SpaceSnap Throwback: Hubble Space Telescope Celebrated Its 26th Birthday With This Shot of the Bubble Nebula

Let's take the #SpaceSnap throwback to six years ago with NASA's Hubble!

The Hubble Space Telescope is already 32 years old this year. When NASA celebrated its 26th birthday six years ago, astronomers chose a Hubble image of an enormous bubble being blown into space by a super-hot, massive star to commemorate the occasion.

The Hubble image of the Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635, was chosen to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the STS-31 space shuttle crew's launch of Hubble into Earth orbit on April 24, 1990.

NASA's Science Mission Directorate, John Grunsfeld, stated that, "As Hubble makes its 26th revolution around our home star, the sun, we celebrate the event with a spectacular image of a dynamic and exciting interaction of a young star with its environment." In addition, Grunsfeld said, "The view of the Bubble Nebula, crafted from Wide Field Camera 3 images, reminds us that Hubble gives us a front-row seat to the awe-inspiring universe we live in."

Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635, in space. The Bubble Nebula is located in close proximity to the Messier 52 open star cluster, which is an impressive open star cluster in its own right.

According to Astrobackyard, its recognizable "bubble" shape was created by the stellar wind generated by the extremely hot central star, which gave the structure its name (SAO 20575). This unmistakable emission nebula, also known as Sharpless 162 and Caldwell 11, is located within a massive, glowing molecular cloud. The Bubble itself has a diameter of approximately 10 light-years.

Located in the constellation Cassiopeia, the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) is an extremely bright region. This region of Cassiopeia is home to a number of fascinating nebulae regions, the most notable of which is the Lobster Claw Nebula. With the proper image quality, space images can capture both the Bubble Nebula and the Lobster Claw Nebula in a single frame of footage.

The Bubble Nebula

Massive bubbles of matter floating in space are structures created by the stellar wind as matter from the sun moves away, creating bubbles in the process. The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the Bubble Nebula, which appears to have been 'blown' by a star that can be seen to the left of the nebula's center. It has several hundred thousand times the brightness of the Sun and is approximately 45 times as massive as the Sun.

As Gismeteo reports, the bubble has a diameter of 7 light-years and is located in the constellation Cassiopeia, approximately 7,000 light-years away from Earth. The Bubble Nebula has a delicate appearance that draws the eye. In a surrounding molecular cloud, a powerful stellar wind and intense radiation from the massive star have blasted away the structure of glowing gas, exposing denser material beneath the surface.

The central star has a magnitude of 8.71 and a mass that is approximately 44 times greater than that of our Sun. The star's radiation ionizes the nebula's bubble-shaped shell, causing it to radiate and glow brightly. For the nebula to take on its shape, the stellar wind and radiation emitted by the star are responsible.