Read more: 📷 @NASA , @ESA , the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and R. Gendler (for the Hubble Heritage Team). Acknowledgment: J. GaBany 3/3.

Unlike the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, which occasionally pulls in wisps of gas, Messier 106’s is actively gobbling up material! As the gas spirals towards the black hole, it heats up and emits powerful radiation. 2/3.

Our #HubbleTopImage features a spiral galaxy with a secret 🤫. Located just over 20 million light-years away, Messier 106 is one of the nearest spiral galaxies to our own. Despite its typical appearance, it hides a secret at its centre… 1/3

@esa @NASA Astronomers once thought the stars in a globular cluster formed together, but we now know this is not the case. Examining globular clusters like NGC 1786 can reveal how they formed and where these stars of different ages came from. Read more: 3/3.

These balls of tightly bound stars 🪩 are very old and stable, so they act as galactic time capsules, preserving stars from the earliest stages of a galaxy’s formation. 📷 @ESA / @Hubble_Space & @NASA , M. Monelli.Ack. M. H. Özsaraç 2/3.

Our ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week digs up a galactic time capsule! 🕰️ . NGC 1786 is a globular cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. 1/3

The Arp 142 pair are close enough together to interact violently, exchanging matter and causing havoc!. Read more: 📷 @NASA , @ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) 2/2.

Our #HubbleTopImage catches two galaxies in close encounter!. This pair is known as Arp 142. When two galaxies stray too close, they begin to interact – in some cases they merge 🤝 in others, they are ripped apart. 1/2

@esa @NASA Abell 209 shows signs of lensing in the form of streaky, slightly curved galaxies. Measuring their distortion makes it possible to map the cluster’s distribution of mass, illuminating its dark matter!. Read more: 4/4.

@esa @NASA Observing galaxy clusters can help demystify dark matter. This requires leveraging the immense mass of a galaxy cluster, which bends the fabric of spacetime and creates warped images of background galaxies (gravitational lensing). 3/4.

This image of Abell 209 shows more than a hundred galaxies – but there’s more to this cluster than even Hubble can see! 2/4. 📷 @ESA / @Hubble_Space & @NASA , M. Postman, P. Kelly.

Our ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week is a portrait of a massive, spacetime-warping cluster of galaxies. 1/4

A tour of Taurus… the Taurus Molecular Cloud! 🐂. Access more space-themed .gifs at our giphy page:

Read more: 📷 @ESA / @Hubble_Space & @NASA.Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt 3/3.

This cosmic bloom is of interest to astronomers due to its uneven structure, and the unusual clusters of stars that orbit around it — two strong indications of a galactic merger in the recent past! 2/3.

Soft shells and strange star clusters appear in our #HubbleTopImage this week!. The petal-like shells 🪷 of galaxy PGC 6240 were captured in intricate detail by Hubble, set against a sky full of distant background galaxies. 1/3

Read more here: 📷 @ESA / @Hubble_Space & @NASA , G. Duchêne, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble).🎶 Stellardrone - Ascent 3/3.

At the centre of the image is the system of three bright stars that illuminate GN 04.32.8. Just below and to the left is a newly formed protostar that appears as a squashed orange spot. Can you see it? 👀 2/3.

Our ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week is a portrait of the reflection nebula GN 04.32.8. Unlike other nebulae, these do not emit their own light, but scatter the light of nearby stars. 1/3

There’s something about the spiral galaxy UGC 111397 👀. Access more space-themed .gifs at our giphy page: