Meet the Woman Who Found the Most Useful Stars in the Universe

Published 7 Sep 2018, 10:22 BST

This iconic Hubble image of the spiral galaxy NGC 1300 is suffused with detail—bright blue young stars, the dust lanes spiralling around the bright nucleus, distant galaxies shining through.

Photograph by NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment P. Knezek (WIYN)

Star birth and star death create cosmic havoc in a panorama of the Carina Nebula assembled from multiple Hubble images.

Photograph by N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley) and NOAO/AURA/NSF

In this spectacular image, the spiral Sombrero galaxy is seen almost edge on.

Photograph by NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Over several months, Hubble captured a cosmic spectacle—a ragged balloon of dust that appeared to expand around the star V838 Monocerotis.

Photograph by NASA, ESA and H.E. Bond (STScI)

This ghostly ring is one of the strongest pieces of evidence for the existence of dark matter, an unknown substance believed to make up the structure of the cosmos.

Photograph by NASA, ESA, M.J. Jee and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University)

Gas from a dying star resembles a butterfly, its lacy wings formed by the ejection of its outer layers.

Photograph by NASA; ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team

The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are hurtling toward each other at 300,000 miles (480,000 kilometres) an hour.

Photograph by NASA, Holland Ford (JHU), the ACS Science Team and ESA

Two spiral galaxies, collectively known as Arp 273, prepare to merge 300 million light-years away.

Photograph by NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 looks through the Horsehead Nebula in a uniquely detailed infrared image.

Photograph by NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Sparkling with energy, a cluster of young stars lights up a cavity in the roiling dust of the Tarantula Nebula.

Photograph by NASA, ESA, F. Paresce (INAF-IASF, Bologna, Italy), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia, Charlottesville), and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee

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