NASA's Hubble joins Star Wars fans in celebration, shares photo of celestial 'lightsaber'

NASA’s Hubble space telescope, on May 4, shared a photograph of a celestial “ double-edged lightsaber” named H24, joining hundreds of thousands of people celebrating Star Wars day. As #MayThe4thBeWithYou started trending on Twitter, Hubble's official page shared a stunning picture of two blazes emerging out of the newborn star. "In the centre of the image, partially obscured by a dark, Jedi-like cloak of dust, a newborn star shoots twin jets out into space as a sort of birth announcement to the universe," it wrote describing the photograph. The American Space Agency further said that the picture was clicked just 1350 light-years away.

'Science fiction has been an inspiration'

“Science fiction has been an inspiration to generations of scientists and engineers, and the film series Star Wars is no exception,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for the NASA Science Mission directorate.  “There is no stronger case for the motivational power of real science than the discoveries that come from the Hubble Space Telescope as it unravels the mysteries of the universe," he added.

Since shared, the photograph has racked up over four thousand views and more than two thousand likes. "Star Wars is a system space movie, they wouldn't be able to survive in the more physical Star Trek movie era," wrote a user. "That's awesome! Also looks like a neutron star with those lines of plasma! Great shot!' added another. "That is a massive lightsaber. Must conquer their world. On second thought, let's just look at it and hide under our desks", added a third Twitter user.

Just last week, Hubble captured a rare stunning glimpse of a Jupiter-sized, still-forming planet engulfing the material surrounding a young star. The exoplanet dubbed as the PDS 70b is located 370 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus and orbits the orange dwarf star PDS 70. According to NASA’s statement, the tiny exoplanet has two actively forming planets inside a huge disk of dust and gas encircling the star.

Scientists observed that the magnetic field lines extend from the planet’s circumplanetary disk down to the exoplanet’s atmosphere and funnels material to the planet’s surface. The PDS 70b sucks the material from the younger star and builds mass over millions of years. Using Hubble’s unique ultraviolet sensitivities, researchers were able to measure the mass growth rate of PDS 70b for the first time which began forming approximately 5 million years ago. 

Image Credits: NASA