NASA’s Hubble Celebrates 24 Years in Orbit by Capturing Monkey Head Nebula

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990 celebrated its 24 years in orbit by revisiting the Monkey Head Nebula and capturing infant stars scattered within the bright streak of its cosmic gas and dust.

Nebulae have been the most preferred target for Hubble. They are the bright and vibrant stellar nurseries encased with materials needed for star formation. One such Nebula the Hubble focused on to celebrate its birthday was the Monkey Head Nebula.

Similar to the other stellar nurseries filled with young stars, the Monkey Head Nebula (NGC 2174) is located 6,400 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Orion. It is classified as the H II region i.e. a large cloud of ionised gas, similar to the Prawn Nebula.

"The icing on this cosmic birthday cake takes the form of young white and pink stars sprinkled amongst the glowing clouds, pushing away the dark stellar nurseries in which they formed. The key ingredient in NGC 2174 is hydrogen gas, which is ionised by the ultraviolet radiation emitted by the young stars. As a result, this region is also known as an HII region- a large cloud of ionised gas," according to the news release.

This region of the sky was earlier scanned by Hubble in 2001. The stunning image captured then was released in 2011. On its 22^nd and 23^rdanniversary, Hubble had focused on Nebuale 'Tarantula (heic1206) and Horsehead (heic1307). The colorful plumes of gas and bright stars help create a stunning picture.

This region of the Monkey Head Nebula, called so because of the familiar shape when seen in wide field images, was viewed using the Wide Field Camera 3. 

This milestone of Hubble will be discussed this month in Rome at the Science with Hubble Space Telescope 4 conference.