1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:08,000 The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 17th birthday with one of the largest panoramic images ever taken. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,000 The violent stellar fireworks of the Carina Nebula. 3 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,000 This is the Hubblecast! 4 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,000 News and Images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. 5 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:46,000 Travelling through time and space with our host Doctor J a.k.a. Dr Joe Liske. 6 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Welcome to the Hubblecast! 7 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:55,000 On the 24th of April we celebrated Hubble’s 17th anniversary in space. 8 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,000 In these 17 years of exploring the universe, 9 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:05,000 Hubble has made nearly 800,000 observations of more than 25,000 different celestial objects. 10 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:13,000 It takes pictures of the Universe as it is hurtles through space, orbiting Earth at the breakneck speed of 28,000 kilometres per hour. 11 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:19,000 Now in 17 years that makes nearly 100,000 trips around our planet. 12 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:25,000 Or, a total of 4 billion kilometres. That’s one round trip to Saturn! 13 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:31,000 Today we are celebrating Hubble’s 17th birthday by releasing a stunning 50 light-year-wide image 14 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,000 of the tumultuous central region of the Carina Nebula, where a maelstrom of star birth - and death - is taking place. 15 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:50,000 In the southern sky, not far from the Southern Cross, we find the constellation Carina, the Keel. 16 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,000 Here, 8,000 light-years away, the immense Carina Nebula is located. 17 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Hubble’s new view of the Carina Nebula shows the process of star birth at a new level of detail. 18 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:14,000 The bizarre landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. 19 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:22,000 In the centre of the nebula we find Eta Carinae, which is estimated to be 100 times more massive than our Sun. 20 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,000 It is in the final stages of its brief eruptive lifespan, 21 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:34,000 as shown by two billowing lobes of gas and dust that presage its forthcoming explosion as a titanic supernova. 22 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:44,000 Eta Carinae was the site of a giant outburst about 150 years ago, when it temporarily became one of the brightest stars in the southern sky. 23 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,000 The star remains one of the great mysteries of stellar astronomy. 24 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Looking closer at the nebula we find a number of very interesting features. 25 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:01,000 Pillars of gas and dust reveal unequivocal evidence that stars are being born inside the columns. 26 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:10,000 Streamers of gas shoot out from the pillars and plough into surrounding gas like a fire hose hitting a wall of sand. 27 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:16,000 The jets are being launched from newly forming stars hidden inside the columns. 28 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:24,000 Everywhere we find small nuggets of cold molecular hydrogen and dust, called Bok globules that are silhouetted against the nebula. 29 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:30,000 Now, the edges are glowing, which indicates that they’re being irradiated by the hottest stars around. 30 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:36,000 It’s been hypothesized that stars may be forming inside these dusty cocoons. 31 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:45,000 Since February 2007, Hubble has been operating with a reduced capability after one of its main cameras suffered a short circuit. 32 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:52,000 A fifth Servicing Mission is, however, planned for September 2008 using NASA’s Space Shuttle. 33 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,000 Two new instruments will be installed and several other upgrades will be made. 34 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:01,000 The Carina Nebula is just one example of what Hubble can do. 35 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:09,000 Everyday, Hubble generates 10 gigabytes of data; that makes 30 terabytes over the 17 years of its lifetime. 36 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:15,000 The Hubble archive is a real goldmine to astronomers in Europe and in the US. 37 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:24,000 Every day 66 gigabytes of data are being downloaded, and absolutely everyone can get access to these riches via the Internet. 38 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:29,000 More than 7000 scientific papers have been published based on Hubble observations, 39 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,000 and that makes Hubble one of the most productive scientific instruments ever. 40 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,000 This is Dr J signing off for the Hubblecast. 41 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:42,000 Once again nature has surprised us beyond our wildest imagination … 42 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Hubblecast is produced by ESA/Hubble at the European Southern Observatory in Germany. 43 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:53,000 The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency.