Constellations are drawn as stick figures connecting bright stars in the sky. This two-dimensional representation gives the impression that the stars are all at the same distance. In addition, the idea of a “bright star” can be misleading, as the apparent brightness we see depends upon both the star’s intrinsic brightness and its distance from Earth. This scientific visualization addresses both of these issues by viewing the Orion constellation from a three-dimensional perspective. The true space distribution of the constellation as well as how stellar brightness changes with viewing position is revealed by circling around the stars.

The camera begins with a pan across the sky to Orion. The lines of the 2D stick figure constellation are drawn in. As the camera slowly begins to circle around the centroid of the stars, the stick figure quickly breaks into a long, extended 3D structure. The camera backs up to keep the entire figure onscreen for the complete circle. At the end of the circle, the camera pushes forward to finish at the location of the Earth/Sun (to avoid an obvious distraction, the Sun is not included in the visualization).

During that final camera push, notice how Sirius grows in apparent brightness (bottom of frame, just left of center). While Sirius is the brightest star in our night sky, a major contribution of its apparent brightness comes from its proximity to the Sun.

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The giant planet Jupiter has a diameter of more than 10 times Earth’s diameter. Its striped and dynamic atmosphere, dotted with massive, powerful storms, has been a continuing Hubble target over the years.

A collection of images from 2007 have been combined to get full, even coverage of Jupiter. The resulting mosaic has been mapped onto a sphere, and one full rotation is presented in the visualization.

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Saturn’s wide, but very thin, rings are tilted with respect to its plane of orbit around the Sun. Once every 15 years, the rings are edge-on (perpendicular) to the Sun. During those times, some of Saturn’s moons can cast shadows across the rings.

This time-lapse movie shows the icy moons Enceladus, Mimas, Dione, and Tethys orbiting Saturn. Enceladus, seemingly chased by Mimas, is first to speed past the rings and in front of the planet. Both moons cast small shadows on the planet, but only Enceladus casts a shadow on the rings. The orbit of Mimas is inclined so that its shadow misses the rings. Dione is next, and its long shadow also tracks across the ring system. As the three moons move across Saturn’s disk, the viewer catches a fleeting view of Tethys as it moves behind the planet on the right.

The 30-second movie is created from Hubble images taken over a 9½-hour span. The images were taken Nov. 17, 1995, with Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The movie has a standard aspect ratio, but is presented within a widescreen frame – the black bars along the sides are normal.

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The active galaxy Hercules A was given that name because it is the brightest radio source in the constellation of Hercules. Astronomers found that the double-peaked radio emission corresponded to a giant elliptical galaxy cataloged as 3C 348. Unusually, this behemoth galaxy is not found within a large cluster of hundreds of galaxies, but rather within a comparatively small group of dozens of galaxies. The ‘active’ part of the galaxy is the supermassive black hole in its core, which spews out strong jets of energetic particles that produce enormous lobes of radio emission. Some astronomers suspect that Hercules A may be the result of two galaxies merging together.

This video envisions a three-dimensional look at the combined visible light (Hubble Space Telescope) and radio emission (Very Large Array) from Hercules A. The size of these radio lobes dwarfs the large galaxy and extends throughout the volume of the galaxy group. This visualization is intended only to be a scientifically reasonable illustration of the three-dimensional structures. In particular, the galaxy distances within the group are based on a statistical model, and not measured values.

For more information or to download this video, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/video_details/9-active-galaxy-hercules-a-visible-radio

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This video is the stereo 3D version of “Pan Past JWST at L2 Point”.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the next of NASA’s Great Observatories, following in the line of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. JWST combines qualities of two of its predecessors, observing in infrared light, like Spitzer, with fine resolution, like Hubble.

The telescope has a 6.5-meter mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments in a honeycomb pattern. Protecting the sensitive research instruments is a large sunshield about the size of a tennis court. Further protection comes from the observatory’s remote location in a place called the second LaGrange point (L2). Orbiting the Sun at L2, JWST will be about a million miles from Earth (roughly four times more distant than the Moon) and will always be positioned with the Earth and the Sun in the same direction, behind its sunshield.

In this animation, designed as an homage to a shot from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” we fly by and circle around a model of JWST at L2. The opening of the sequence illustrates the L2 location, showing the Moon in the foreground, Earth in the mid-ground, and the Sun in the background.

For more information or to download this video, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/video_details/16-pan-past-jwst-at-l2-point-in-3d

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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the next of NASA’s Great Observatories, following in the line of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. JWST combines qualities of two of its predecessors, observing in infrared light, like Spitzer, with fine resolution, like Hubble.

The telescope has a 6.5-meter mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments in a honeycomb pattern. Protecting the sensitive research instruments is a large sunshield about the size of a tennis court. Further protection comes from the observatory’s remote location in a place called the second LaGrange point (L2). Orbiting the Sun at L2, JWST will be about a million miles from Earth (roughly four times more distant than the Moon) and will always be positioned with the Earth and the Sun in the same direction, behind its sunshield.

In this animation, designed as an homage to a shot from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” we fly by and circle around a model of JWST at L2. The opening of the sequence illustrates the L2 location, showing the Moon in the foreground, Earth in the mid-ground, and the Sun in the background.

For more information or to download this video, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/video_details/15-pan-past-jwst-at-l2-point

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This is the stereo 3D version of “Active Galaxy Hercules A: Visible & Radio Comparison.”

The active galaxy Hercules A was given that name because it is the brightest radio source in the constellation of Hercules. Astronomers found that the double-peaked radio emission corresponded to a giant elliptical galaxy cataloged as 3C 348. Unusually, this behemoth galaxy is not found within a large cluster of hundreds of galaxies, but rather within a comparatively small group of dozens of galaxies. The ‘active’ part of the galaxy is the supermassive black hole in its core, which spews out strong jets of energetic particles that produce enormous lobes of radio emission. Some astronomers suspect that Hercules A may be the result of two galaxies merging together.

This video envisions a three-dimensional look at the combined visible light (Hubble Space Telescope) and radio emission (Very Large Array) from Hercules A. The size of these radio lobes dwarfs the large galaxy and extends throughout the volume of the galaxy group. This visualization is intended only to be a scientifically reasonable illustration of the three-dimensional structures. In particular, the galaxy distances within the group are based on a statistical model, and not measured values.

For more information or to download this video, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/video_details/10-active-galaxy-hercules-a-in-3d-visible-radio

For more videos, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/