NASA's New Hubble Image Collection Is Made For Amateur Astronomers

NASA has published a series of space images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope to celebrate the spacecraft's 30th anniversary. The images showcase a total of 30 galaxies found in our celestial 'backyard,' ones that are unique for one very fun reason: NASA says all of these galaxies can be viewed using ordinary 'backyard telescopes.'

Each of the images features a galaxy belonging to what is known as the Caldwell catalog, NASA explains, which refers to the amateur astronomer Sir Patrick Caldwell-Moore. The catalog was first published 25 years ago in 1995, revealing 109 galaxies and other interesting space regions that can be observed by amateur enthusiasts.

These images are a great addition to the vast body of public space images. NASA notes that Hubble's images offer a detailed look at these objects, meaning some of them do not reveal the complete subject, but instead zoom in on interesting aspects, such as a spiral galaxy's arms or the zombie star near a nebula.

In other instances, NASA assembled multiple Hubble images together to create a mosaic offering a more complete look at the Caldwell objects. The space agency has been sharing its images of Caldwell objects in 2019 and so far — with these latest additions — has 87 of the 109 objects published.

Amateur astronomers will be able to easily find these objects using their own telescopes and the basic star charts included with each listing in NASA's Caldwell collection. NASA also notes on the images where the objects are located in the sky and what kind of equipment you'll need to see them for yourself.