Hubbles Canvas_2of6_Painted by Light and Masterpiece
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00:00In the quest to explore the universe, our greatest ally is the Hubble Space Telescope.
00:09No scientific instrument in history has revealed so much or taken us so far.
00:19Perched above the distorting veil of Earth's atmosphere, Hubble sees what we cannot.
00:25Using vivid color to represent scientific data, Hubble paints pictures of unprecedented clarity.
00:31Pictures that bridge the domains of art and science,
00:35and form a direct link between the most powerful forces in nature and the human spirit.
00:55Hubblecast is produced by ESA, the European Southern Observatory.
01:00The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency.
01:16In the beginning, there was light.
01:20So much light that when the universe formed, every corner of space blazed white-hot.
01:28But it didn't last.
01:31As the infant universe expanded, it cooled, and its light faded.
01:36For 200 million years, darkness reigned.
01:42And then, light was reborn.
01:51It was gravity that gave the universe its new look.
01:59Gravity drew matter together into vast, swirling clouds.
02:05While deep inside the clouds, dense concentrations of matter coalesced and began to glow.
02:13As these concentrations grew, the pressure and heat at their cores became enormous.
02:21Until, with a flash, nuclear reactions ignited.
02:27Suddenly, a new kind of light was shining in the universe.
02:32The light of countless newborn stars.
02:39When you think of the elements that make up a painting, you might think of colour, form, subject.
02:46But you probably don't think about the light that lets you see the painting in the first place.
02:52In space, it's just the opposite.
02:56There, light is the subject, especially the light from stars.
03:02It's what connects with the matter around it that makes the universe so revealing to astronomers.
03:09The Hubble Space Telescope reminds us that in a universe painted by starlight,
03:15beauty and science often come hand in hand.
03:21Like no other instrument, the Hubble is built to explore the finest details in the light that it gathers from the stars.
03:32The Hubblecast highlights the latest discoveries of the world´s most recognized and prized space observatory.
03:44Where does starlight come from?
03:48In the core of each star is a natural nuclear power plant
03:53that turns hydrogen, the most abundant element, into helium.
03:58This reaction releases energy, much of which works its way through the star's interior until it's released as light.
04:11Once starlight is travelling freely through space, it can illuminate the star's surroundings,
04:17which may absorb, reflect and re-emit the light in countless ways.
04:24This includes lighting up any gas left over from the star's formation.
04:37Normally, this interstellar gas would be transparent,
04:41but when it's energized by nearby stars, it becomes ionized and emits light of various colors.
04:49Here on Earth, the same principle lights up a city street at night with colorful neon signs.
04:59Gas may add color to Hubble's canvas, but it's dust that creates some of the most striking views in space.
05:08The dust comes in the form of microscopic grains, no bigger than particles of smoke,
05:14but when trillions of them get together, they block and absorb light.
05:20Our galaxy is full of dust, and when there's a cloud of glowing gas in the background,
05:26the dust stands out in dramatic silhouette.
05:35One of the best-known examples of this effect is the celebrated Horsehead Nebula.
05:42From a distance, it appears like a horse-shaped hole carved out of the surrounding gas.
05:50But looking more closely, Hubble reveals the Horsehead Nebula as never before.
05:57A towering pinnacle of dark dust so vast,
06:01it would take a beam of light two years to cross from the tip of its nose to its main.
06:12Such dark clouds are often found in regions where new stars are forming.
06:19They are full of elements like carbon and silicon
06:22that are essential for creating solid rocky planets like Earth.
06:29Once, the rocks and dirt that make up the ground beneath our feet
06:34began as tiny grains of dust swept into a dark cloud like this one.
06:42If all dust did was block light,
06:45it would still make the universe a more beautiful place to look at.
06:49But dust can also do something even more interesting.
06:53It can scatter light.
07:02To witness this remarkable spectacle,
07:05the Hubble cast its gaze across our home galaxy, the Milky Way,
07:09to a star so brilliant and so distant,
07:12its light takes 20,000 years to reach us.
07:20Normally, such a star would appear as nothing more than a faint speck of light.
07:25But this star is a giant, one of the brightest in our galaxy.
07:32It is also on the verge of running out of energy.
07:37And like a dying flame, it surrounded itself in a smoky cloak of dust.
07:47In early 2002, the star brightened suddenly and then faded.
07:55As Hubble watched, the brilliant flash produced what astronomers call a light echo.
08:02Month after month, Hubble recorded the initial flash of light from the star
08:07as it scattered and reflected off the surrounding dust.
08:16Viewed in sequence, the result creates the illusion of a cosmic flower in bloom.
08:32Closer to home, this sequence of Hubble views of the planet Mars
08:37shows the dramatic effect of scattered light.
08:42Normally, the surface features of Mars make for an easy target with the Hubble,
08:48until a planet-wide storm wraps Mars in a cloak of fine airborne dust.
09:02The Pleiades, a nearby cluster of stars also known as the Seven Sisters,
09:08plows into a cloud of dust while on its trek through the galaxy.
09:14In this image, taken by a ground-based telescope,
09:18you can see the dust scattering the light of the cluster's young blue stars.
09:32Moving in for a much closer look, astronomers have used the Hubble
09:37to explore the dust in fine detail.
09:43The telescope has revealed wind-swept features that are caused by the force
09:48of the star's bright light pushing the dust back.
10:01The idea that light can move matter may seem surprising,
10:06but it comes straight from the most fundamental laws of nature.
10:13Light carries energy, and when light is absorbed by fine particles of dust,
10:19the energy makes the dust recoil in response.
10:25When this simple effect plays out on the grand scale,
10:29it means that starlight isn't just the painter of our universe,
10:33it's the sculptor as well.
10:47Nowhere is the sculpting power of starlight more apparent
10:51than in the fabulous Eagle Nebula.
10:59This dramatic Hubble close-up shows part of a dark column of dust
11:04silhouetted against a background of glowing gas.
11:09Stars are forming before our eyes in this delicate dusty pillar,
11:14even as it is shaped and eroded by the intense light
11:18from other stars within the nebula.
11:23Hubble's unprecedented view of the Eagle Nebula offers vivid proof
11:28of the powerful force that light can exert.
11:33Like a desert wind that builds and shifts mighty sand dunes,
11:38here, light is the invisible hand that guides both the creation
11:43and destruction of pattern and complexity in space.
11:52Everywhere we look in the universe, our view is determined
11:56by a graceful intertwining of matter and light.
12:05When viewed at the scale of an entire galaxy,
12:08the glowing clouds of gas that are lit up by the energy of newborn stars
12:13stand out like snow-capped mountains,
12:17while the tendrils of dust that thread their way between the star-forming regions
12:22look like networks of lakes and rivers.
12:26Pulling back, Hubble shows us how these patterns of light and dark
12:31shape our impressions of what galaxies look like,
12:34and provide key insights into our understanding
12:37of the forces that create their appearance.
12:42With Hubble, we can see that we live in a universe not only painted by light,
12:47but one where masterpieces abound,
12:50and where a powerful telescope can reveal the hidden beauty
12:53in every faint patch of light glowing far off in the night sky.
13:21Hubblecast is produced by ESA, the European Southern Observatory.
13:25The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation
13:28between NASA and the European Space Agency.
13:31The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation
13:34between NASA and the European Space Agency.
13:38Hubblecast is produced by ESA, the European Southern Observatory.
13:42The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation
13:45between NASA and the European Space Agency.
13:50An accomplished artist does not spring into being fully formed.
13:56It can take years of practice and exploration
13:59before a creative talent matures
14:02and is ready to tackle big subjects on a big canvas.
14:08So too with the Hubble Space Telescope,
14:11which has been in orbit around Earth
14:14and capturing images of the heavens for nearly two decades.
14:20Yet, despite a long and colorful career,
14:24it is arguably only now that the Hubble is producing its greatest masterpieces.
14:37Hubblecast is produced by ESA, the European Southern Observatory.
14:40The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation
14:43between NASA and the European Space Agency.
14:48One reason for this is that the Hubble was originally designed
14:52to provide the sharpest, most penetrating view of the universe possible.
14:59But this means it cannot see more than a small portion of the sky at any one time.
15:08A single frame of Hubble's most advanced camera
15:12would cover less than one-tenth the diameter of the full moon.
15:19And that means some of the most interesting objects in the universe
15:23are much too large to fit in Hubble's field of view.
15:28Hubblecast is produced by ESA, the European Southern Observatory.
15:34When Hubble was launched, astronomers had a long list of things they wanted to see.
15:39Now that Hubble's seen them, astronomers have the luxury of being more creative.
15:45That means using the Hubble to capture images
15:49that are both wonderfully sharp and breathtakingly large.
15:58In principle, it's easy to do.
16:02It just takes time.
16:08With time, you can point the telescope over and over
16:12at adjacent portions of the sky.
16:15This leaves you with dozens of separate images.
16:19But when assembled like a mosaic, they become one giant picture.
16:28When you're trying to take in something as vast as the universe itself,
16:33it's an approach that can't be beat.
16:38That's precisely what astronomers decided to do
16:42when they wanted to get a sense of what the entire universe was like
16:46when it was less than half the age it is now.
16:50First, they chose a relatively empty corner of the sky
16:54that was largely free of stars and nearby galaxies.
17:00The best place to do this turned out to be just off the corner of the Big Dipper,
17:05one of the most recognized star patterns in the night sky.
17:11Compared to the Big Dipper, the area of the Big Dipper
17:16Compared to the Big Dipper, the area astronomers examined is small,
17:20a narrow strip that can easily be covered up
17:24with an outstretched finger held up against the sky.
17:39But to capture even this small a slice of the universe,
17:44Hubble had to take more than 500 separate images
17:48using a variety of different filters.
17:54Ultimately, all of this information was assembled into one giant mural,
17:59a cosmic group photo that includes at least 50,000 individual galaxies.
18:05To let your gaze wander across this single strip of the night sky
18:10is to experience our universe in all its vastness and variety.
18:19Only Hubble could create a view like this one,
18:23a view that opens up more of deep space to the human eye
18:27than any other image in history.
18:36Looking more closely, Hubble has found that this random sampling of galaxies
18:42contains surprising diversity.
18:47Some of the galaxies are spiral-shaped,
18:50like our own home galaxy, the Milky Way.
18:56Yet others appear jumbled and distorted.
19:00These galaxies are still under construction.
19:06Because they are so far away,
19:10their light has taken billions of years to reach us.
19:14Hubble sees them not as they are now,
19:17but as they were billions of years ago
19:20when the universe was just emerging from its tumultuous beginnings.
19:26Much closer to home,
19:30Hubble's ability to build a mosaic out of many smaller frames
19:34means that we can witness the assembly of an entire galaxy
19:38on our cosmic doorstep.
19:42This galaxy is smaller than the Milky Way,
19:45but it's relatively close.
19:48Instead of taking billions of years,
19:51its light takes a mere 12 million years to arrive here,
19:55so it makes an ideal subject for the study of galaxy formation.
20:04Like its more distant counterparts,
20:07the galaxy is not a graceful spiral,
20:10but a bright and chaotic jumble of stars.
20:15Its irregular appearance is the result of a collision
20:19between smaller galaxies that gravity has pulled together
20:23to make a larger system.
20:29This forced collision has triggered a dazzling burst of star formation.
20:35Here we see thousands of young stars
20:38along with splashes of diffuse pink light,
20:41the glowing clouds of hydrogen gas
20:44where new stars are being born before our eyes.
20:49From the universe at large,
20:52to a single galaxy,
20:55to a single galaxy,
20:58to a single galaxy,
21:01From the universe at large to a single galaxy,
21:05Hubble has revealed beauty and insight at many levels
21:09and over great distances.
21:12But perhaps its greatest masterpiece comes from its exploration
21:16of the nearest star-forming region to Earth.
21:22The light from the Orion Nebula
21:25takes just 1,500 years to reach us.
21:29Its even faintly visible to the naked eye
21:32as part of the constellation Orion the Hunter.
21:39A pair of binoculars is enough to reveal
21:42that its not an ordinary star,
21:45but instead looks more like a small patch of mist in the sky.
21:52Around the world, telescopes for years
21:55have revealed that patch of mist as an impressive nebula
21:58where new stars are being born.
22:05But until now, no telescope has been able to show us
22:08the Orion Nebula at this level of detail.
22:15More than 500 Hubble images were used
22:18to create this exquisite mosaic.
22:21Through Hubble's eye, the nebula is revealed
22:24as a vast, billowing field of gas.
22:28Its structure is like an oyster shell,
22:31opening toward us.
22:43At the center is the trapezium,
22:46a cluster of four intensely bright giant stars,
22:50100,000 times more luminous than our own Sun.
22:55These stars produce enough ultraviolet radiation
22:58to energize the surrounding hydrogen
23:01and light up the inner portion of the nebula
23:04like a flame inside a lantern.
23:09These stars also generate powerful winds
23:12of high-speed particles, which are pushing at the gas
23:15and gradually driving it away from the center.
23:20With the Hubble, astronomers can now study
23:23every wrinkle and fold in the nebula's complex structure
23:27to better understand this process.
23:37To gain even further insight,
23:40the Hubble image has been combined with an infrared view
23:43from the Spitzer Space Telescope.
23:46It shows more activity and structure
23:49in regions where the gas is too cool to glow
23:52as part of the spectrum visible to the naked eye.
23:57The colors that add so much beauty to the image
24:00are also the key to understanding
24:03the chemical composition of the nebula.
24:07Wisps of green light are partly due to atoms of sulfur,
24:13while some of the red light around the outskirts of the nebula
24:16is produced by chemical compounds that are rich in carbon.
24:23And there is more.
24:27In one of its most celebrated discoveries,
24:30the Hubble has confirmed that the Orion Nebula
24:33represents a new generation
24:36and a new beginning for thousands of stars.
24:42When Hubble searches among the nebula's feathery filaments,
24:46it finds ample evidence that new solar systems
24:49are being created here,
24:52much the way our own solar system came into being
24:55billions of years ago.
25:01Looking at this magnificent image,
25:04just one among so many great views from the Hubble,
25:07we come, in the end, to a deeper realization.
25:10It's not simply abstract beauty
25:13that draws us to this masterpiece,
25:16but a feeling that within its glowing wonder
25:19is an underlying truth that tells us something
25:22about where we came from,
25:25a truth that connects us directly to the universe we observe.
25:47Hubblecast is produced by ESA, the European Southern Observatory.
25:51The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation
25:54between NASA and the European Space Agency.
25:57The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation
26:00between NASA and the European Space Agency.
26:03Transcription by ESO, translated by —
26:16Hubblecast is produced by ESO, the European Southern Observatory.
26:19The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation
26:22between NASA and the European Space Agency.
26:25Transcription by ESO, translated by —