NASA Hubble telescope captures breathtaking images of space

As the Christmas season is upon us, NASA had few intergalactic gifts for us. The space agency released images of the sparkling star RS Puppis at the center of a magical swirl of reflective dust clouds. The image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, and it seems like a wreath build of glittering lights.

RS Puppis that fall under a class of so-called Cepheid variable starts brightens and dims every six weeks. It is situated about 6,500 light-years away and is 10 times bigger than our Sun, says NASA. The star also has an average intrinsic brightness 15,000 times greater.

Besides, NASA's Parker Probe also captured the closest ever image of the sun in an attempt to understand how our prime star works. At the time when the image was captured, the Parker Solar Probe was 16.9 million miles from the Sun's surface.

The researchers claim that the Parker Probe will come in handy in the future and send valuable data that will help scientists understand the processes taking place on the Sun. 'Parker Solar Probe is going to a region we've never visited before,' said Terry Kucera, a solar physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA hopes this will help them crack three of the biggest mysteries that have long been a matter of concern for them. These include: The reason behind the corona being 300 times hotter compared to the surface below the Sun, The main cause of swift acceleration of the solar wind, and how does the sun eject some particles at half the speed of light.