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PGC 6240 (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

Even though I’ve expressed some frustration with elliptical galaxies in the past, they are really starting to grow on me. They are subtle and seem more mysterious to me than eye-catching, dusty spirals. I’m not only attracted to the soft forms of this galaxy but there are so many galaxies filling the background it’s not something you want to crop the edges away from. Also of interest is that the core of the galaxy is bright enough to generate faint diffraction spikes. The shape of the galaxy is probably caused by gravitational interaction with another nearby galaxy which is off to the right.

Data set used:
HST_10227_02_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci
HST_10227_02_ACS_WFC_F475W_sci

NGC 2023 "Sunset Glow" (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

There goes that dragon’s breath again. I think it gives it a fantasy feel. The dragon’s breath was a lot worse than it is now. I found a nice infrared image of the area just below the flare and used it to see through it and recover some of the nice cloud texture. It didn’t quite reach to the top though so I had to leave a large flare. Not that I mind, of course. It’s interesting. Here it is with the flare intact (that’s by the official Hubble processors).

Data sets used:
HST_9741_01_ACS_WFC_F625W_sci
HST_9741_01_ACS_WFC_F475W_sci
HST_9741_01_ACS_WFC_F658N_sci
HST_9741_01_ACS_WFC_F850LP_sci
hst_11548_9o_wfc3_ir_f160w_sci

HH 30 (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

This is Herbig-Haro object 30. It’s similar to another object I processed, HH 909A. You can see the jets in this one very clearly and we are looking at it from a much wider angle.

XZ Tauri (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

XZ Tauri is the spiky star nearest to center. It’s actually a binary star system.

Data set used:
HST_9863_01_ACS_WFC_F625W_sci
HST_9863_01_ACS_WFC_F658N_sci

Active Galaxy NGC 1068 (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

Also known as M77.

Data set used:
HST_9788_02_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci
HST_9788_02_ACS_WFC_F658N_sci

NGC 7217 (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

It has a spiral structure, but it is difficult to separate one arm from another.

Data set used:
HST_9788_e2_ACS_WFC_F658N_sci
HST_9788_e2_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci

Ring of Fire (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

This is the central bar of NGC 1097. The bright ring of star formation is encircling a supermassive black hole.

Data set used:
HST_9788_03_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci
HST_9788_03_ACS_WFC_F658N_sci

A Leg of the Tarantula Nebula (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

A close-up of a region of the Tarantula Nebula.

Data set used:
HST_11360_d4_ACS_WFC_F435W_sci
HST_11360_d4_ACS_WFC_F606W_sci
HST_11360_d4_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci

The Shells of PGC 10922 (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

Subtle shells comprised of billions of stars surrounding elliptical galaxy PGC 10922 required careful processing not to destroy. Many small smudges are galaxies in the background. Spiky stars are from our own Milky Way.

Data set used:
HST_10227_05_ACS_WFC_F475W_sci
HST_10227_06_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci

NGC 2146 (Hubble Legacy Archive Processing)

A closeup of strained galaxy NGC 2146. You might notice the little “finger” of missing data at the bottom. It’s where the occulting bar blocked out some light. Occulting bars are useful for keeping bright stars from drowning an image with their brightness, which would keep us from seeing all the details surrounding it.

Data set used:
HST_10187_04_ACS_HRC_F435W_sci
HST_10187_04_ACS_HRC_F555W_sci
HST_10187_04_ACS_HRC_F814W_sci