1. Towers of sculpted gas in the Eagle nebula (M16) are actually cocoons for embryonic stars.

3. Rings of gas surround the dying star NGC 6543, nicknamed the Cat's Eye.

4. Hubble Sees Supersonic Exhaust From Nebula M2-9 is a striking example of a "butterfly" or a bipolar planetary nebula. Another more revealing name might be the "Twin Jet Nebula."

5. This Hubble Space Telescope image provides a detailed look at a brilliant "fireworks show" at the center of a collision between two galaxies. Hubble has uncovered over 1,000 bright, young star clusters bursting to life as a result of the head-on wreck.

6. ; Hubble peers back more than 10 billion years to reveal at least 1,500 galaxies at various stages of developme nt.

7. Saturn's north and south poles display spectacular oval- shaped curtains of light, called auroras, which were captured in ultraviolet light by Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS).

8. Hubble has been used to monitor weather conditions on Mars.