NASA's Hubble Telescope Snaps A Giant Bubble Nebula In Space

In its 26 years of existence, the Hubble Space Telescope has thrilled avid space fans and non-fans alike with the stunning images it takes. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently revealed one of its recent photo findings recently. But this particular image might be one of the best yet.

This year's image of the Bubble Nebula was made public by NASA in commemoration of the Hubble's 26^th year in orbit. Space Telescope said that what seems to be an enormous soap bubble is actually "a cloud of gas and dust illuminated by the brilliant star within."

Bubble Nebula

NASA said that the Bubble Nebula is seven light-years across-about one-and-a-half times the distance from the sun to Alpha Centauri, which is the star nearest to Solar System. The Bubble Nebula is 7,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cassiopeia.

The star that forms the Bubble Nebula is 45 times bigger than the sun, NASA added. It was discovered by British astronomer William Herschel in 1787.

Front Row Seat To The Universe

The Hubble was launched back on April 24, 1990. Ever since then, the telescope takes a photograph of magnificent space objects annually as a commemoration.

"As Hubble makes its 26th revolution around our home star, the sun, we celebrate the event with a spectacular image of a dynamic and exciting interaction of a young star with its environment," John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington said in a NASA press release. Grunsfeld is also a Hubble astronaut.

Grunsfeld added that the image reminded everyone that Hubble "gives us a front row seat to the awe inspiring universe we live in." Grunsfeld said that the commemorative image was created from Wide Field Camera (WFC)-3 images.

According to the Space Telescope Science Institute, the WFC-3 was installed in the Hubble Space Telescope in May 2009. It replaced the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.