FOR RELEASE: October 2, 2003

CONTACT:
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: )

Keith Noll
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-1828; E-mail: )

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR03-28


HERITAGE PROJECT CELEBRATES FIVE YEARS OF HARVESTING
THE BEST IMAGES FROM HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

The Hubble Heritage team of astronomers, who assemble many of the NASA
Hubble Space Telescope's most stunning pictures, is celebrating its
five-year anniversary with the release of the picturesque Sombrero
galaxy. One of the largest Hubble mosaics ever assembled, this
magnificent galaxy is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full moon.
The team used Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in May-June 2003 to
take six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to
create the final composite image. The photo reveals a swarm of stars in
a pancake-shaped disk as well as a glowing central halo of stars.

Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

To see and read more, please click on
http://hubblesite.org/news/2003/28
http://heritage.stsci.edu/2003/28

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),
for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of
international cooperation between NASA and the European Space
Agency (ESA).