Hubble infrared camera back online

Galactic collisions, stellar nurseries visible again

Images of the Cone Nebula taken with a visible light camera (left) and the NICMOS infrared camera.

(CNN) -- Astronomers hungry for a glimpse of the oldest, dustiest reaches of space were rewarded Wednesday when the Hubble Space Telescope sent back the first images taken with its newly repaired infrared camera.

The telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrometer, or NICMOS, had been offline since 1999, preventing scientists from studying unique aspects of the universe.

"Now the Hubble can observe at many different wavelengths. So by putting the observations together, we can learn more because each image tells a different story about the object," said Rodger Thompson, astronomy professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Because it captures infrared light, NICMOS can penetrate the thick clouds of dust that surround many celestial objects, offering a clearer picture than visible light cameras can, Thompson said. It also allows scientists to see objects that are older and father away.

Observations of these objects have "completely changed our view of the universe," Thompson said, by leading to the theory that the universe is actually expanding.

Among the images Hubble returned were stunning pictures of a galactic collision 1 billion light years from Earth. The four entangled galaxies produce about 200 sun-like stars every year -- about 100 times more stars than the Milky Way produces

Another image shows the tip of the Cone Nebula, a star-forming cloud 2,500 light years away, and reveals several bright yellow stars not seen in photographs taken with Hubble's visible light camera.

Closer to home, just 55 million light years from Earth, scientists are now able to see a bright yellow band that may be a ring of newly formed stars in the middle of a galaxy.

Next week, NICMOS will focus on a supernova, Thompson said.

The new camera is 30 percent to 40 percent more sensitive than it used to be, Daniela Calzetti of the Space Telescope Science Institute told Reuters.

"This means that for most science this translates directly in a comparable increase in the observations. You can have the same science in less time," she said.

NICMOS was installed on Hubble in 1997 but broke down 23 months later when the solid nitrogen ice required to keep it cool evaporated.

In March, astronauts on the space shuttle installed a replacement cooling system that uses neon gas and high-speed mini-turbines to keep NICMOS at a frigid minus 333 degrees Fahrenheit.

The new cooling system is "a really big advance" that will be used on the next generation of space telescopes, Thompson said.