FOR RELEASE: 9:00 AM (EDT) April 18, 2006

PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC06-17

MAGELLANIC GEMSTONES IN THE SOUTHERN SKY

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured the most detailed images to
date of the open star clusters NGC 265 and NGC 290 in the Small
Magellanic Cloud -- two sparkling sets of gemstones in the southern
sky.
These images, taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, show a
myriad of stars in crystal clear detail. The brilliant open star
clusters are located about 200,000 light-years away and are roughly 65
light-years across. The images were taken in October and November 2004.

Image credit: European Space Agency & NASA
Acknowledgment: E. Olszewski (University of Arizona)

To see and read more about NGC 265 and NGC 290 on the Web, please
visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2006/17
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0603.html

For additional information, please contact:
S?ren Larsen
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
(phone) 011-31-30-25-35-204
(e-mail) or

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble/ESA, Garching, Germany
(phone) 011-49-89-3200-6306
(cell phone) 011-49-173-3872-621
(e-mail) or

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
(phone) 410-338-4514
(e-mail)

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation
between NASA and the European Space Agency. The Space Telescope Science
Institute in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. The
Institute
is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in
Astronomy, Inc., Washington.