As the Space Shuttle Atlantis sits ready on the launch pad for its servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers are remembering one instrument that will soon be no more.

The Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) onboard the telescope will soon be decommissioned. Hubble’s team has released one last ‘pretty picture’ from it: planetary nebula Kohoutek 4-55, 4,600 light-years away.

The colours show emission clouds: red = nitrogen, green = hydrogen, and blue = oxygen.

On the Democratic Underground website, ‘Shireen’ writes:

The last Hubble servicing mission, scheduled to be launched on Monday afternoon, will be bitter-sweet for me. I’ve worked in WFPC2 technical support for more than 14 years and become very fond of this camera.

WFPC2 was installed in 1993 and will be replaced later this week by the Wide Field Camera III. … But my heart will always be with WFPC2, a very remarkable and resilient camera, built by the good people at the Jet Propulsion Lab.

Image right: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Image left: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis