Hubble Extreme Deep Field

Hubble has done it again!  Two million seconds exposure picked out 5,500 galaxies in an area near the constellation of Cetus - the Sea Monster, found in the southern skies.  The area is similar in size to the Sea of Crises on the Moon.  All sorts of colours, shapes and sizes.   

Picture credit: NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch, University of California, Santa Cruz; R. Bouwens, Leiden University; and the HUDF09 Team

To view where in the night sky the image was taken, just copy the URL below and open:-

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/xdf.html

Astrophotographer of the Year 2012

When you see a photo like this you think of Hubble.  Think again.  An amateur won the Deep Space category with this terrific image.  Fully deserved.

M51 – The Whirlpool Galaxy by Martin Pugh (UK/Australia)

If you are at school and think that you have no chance of matching this, have a look at the following picture taken by a 15 year old, to win the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year section.
Pleiades Cluster by Jacob von Chorus (Canada)



















I love the detail in the image below showing the shattered remains of a star after a supernova explosion.

Simeis 147 Supernova Remnant by Rogelio Bernal Andreo (USA)