Each day next week Starting Monday 8th December, The Sun newspaper will be offering a selection of children’s Christmas DVDs. DVDs included are:
* Tweenies
* Robbie the Reindeer
* Lazy Town
* The Backyardigans
* Angelina Ballerina
* Postman Pat
The Sun will print a voucher each day which can be exchanged for the DVD at either WHSmith or Asda. That should keep the kids quiet for a while during the Christmas holidays.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope was carried into orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery in April 1990 and is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble.
Since then It has taken some absolutely amazing images of the universe and has also increased our understanding of space with some amazing discoveries, all that despite the odd technical glitch. You can find the latest news plus more stunning images here
If that has whetted your appetite You can also Explore the Solar System and more here
Here are the top ten Hubble Images
The Sombrero Galaxy
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
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 3,000 and 6,000 light years from Earth.
Nebula NGC 2392
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 5,000 light years from Earth.
Cat’s Eye Nebula
In fourth Place is the Cats Eye Nebula.
Hourglass Nebula
In fifth place is the Hourglass Nebula which is 8,000 light years away and has a ‘pinched-in-the-middle’ look because the winds that shape it are weaker at the centre.
Cone Nebula
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
In seventh place is The Perfect Storm a small region in the Swan Nebula, 5,500 light years away, described as ‘a bubbly ocean of hydrogen and small amounts of oxygen, sulphur and other elements’.
Starry Night
In Eighth place is Starry Night, which is so named because it reminded astronomers of the Van Gogh painting of the same name. It is a halo of light around a star in the Milky Way.
NGC 2207 & IC2163
In ninth place are these glowering eyes from 114 million light years away, which are the swirling cores of two merging galaxies called NGC 2207 and IC 2163 in the distant Canis Major constellation.
The Triffid Nebula
Finally there is The Triffid Nebula. A ’stellar nursery’, 9,000 light years from here, where new stars are being born.
