Astronomers Select Top Ten Most Amazing Pictures Taken by Hubble Space Telescope in Last 16 Years

"After correcting an initial problem with the lens, when the Hubble Space Telescope was first launched in 1990, the floating astro-observatory began to relay back to Earth, incredible snapshots of the 'final frontier' it was pursuing. Recently, astronauts voted on the top photographs taken by Hubble, in its 16-top photographs taken by Hubble, in its 16-year journey so far. Remarking in the article from the Daily Mail, reporter Michael Hanlon says the photos 'illustrate that our universe is not deeply strange, but also almost impossibly beautiful. I'll say. And mind-boggling. Sort of puts things into perspective, too, don't you think?"
- Michael Hanlon/AH

The Sombrero' Galaxy- 28 million light years from Earth -was voted best picture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the galaxy, officially called M104, are as spectacular as its appearance. It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.













'The Ant' Nebula, a cloud of dust and gas whose technical name is Mz3, resembles an ant when observed using ground-based telescopes... The nebula lies within our galaxy between 3000 and 6000 light years from earth.













In third place is Nebula NGC 2392, called 'Eskimo'because it looks like a face surrounded by a furry hood. The hood is, in fact, a ring of comet-shaped objects flying away from a dying star. Eskimo is 5000 light years from Earth.














At four is the 'Cat's Eye' Nebula. A stunning photograph.'The Hourglass' Nebula, 8000 light years away, has a 'pinched-in-the-middle' look due to the winds that shape it being weaker at the centre.














In sixth place is the 'Cone' Nebula. The part pictured here is 2.5 light years in length (the equivalent of 23 million return trips to the Moon).














The Perfect Storm, a small region in the 'Swan' Nebula, 5500 light years away, described as 'a bubbly ocean of hydrogen and small amounts of oxygen, sulphur and other elements'.
















'Starry Night', so named because it reminded astronomers of the Van Gogh painting. It is a halo of light around a star in our Milky Way.















The 'Glowering Eyes' from 114 million light years away are the swirling cores of two merging galaxies called NGC 2207 and IC 2163 in the distant Canis Major constellation.















'The Trifid' Nebula. A 'stellar nursery', 9000 light years from Earth, it is where new stars are being born.