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Paula Cleggett-Haleim
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                        January 6, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-0883)

Jim Elliott
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone:  301/286-6256)

N93-002

NEW HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE PHOTOGRAPHS RELEASED TODAY

	Two HST photographs are available to media representatives through
NASA's Broadcast and Imaging Branch, 202/358-1741.  Today, both images are
being presented at the 181st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in
Phoenix, Ariz.

New Details in a Supernova's Blast Wave

	The HST image shows with unprecedented clarity the structure behind
the shock waves in the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant.  This is allowing
astronomers, for the first time, to directly compare the actual structure of
the shock with theortical model calculations.

	The supernova blast wave is slamming into tenuous clouds of
interstellar gas.  This collision heats and compresses the gas, causing it
to glow.  The shock acts as a searchlight by revealing the structure of the
interstellar medium.

	The Cygnus Loop marks the edge of a bubble-like, expanding blast wave
from a colossal stellar explosion which occurred about 15,000 years ago.
(Color:  92-HC-731  --  B&W:  92-H-792)

Hubble Finds a Young Planetary Nebula

	The image shows an expanding cloud of gas that was ejected from the
aging star in the center.  Before the Hubble observations, little was known
about the nebula's structure because it is too small for any detail to be
seen using ground-based telescopes.  The planetary nebula, known as Hen 1357,
is about 18,000 light-years away and located in the southern constellation
Ara the Altar.
(Color:  92-HC-732  --  B&W:  92-H-793)
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     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Choose a job you love, and
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | you'll never have to work
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