1 of 21
Bubble Nebula Cropped by Hancock
Terry Hancock captured this cropped image of the Bubble Nebula, or NGC 7635, from Down Under Observatory in Fremont, Mich. on the nights of Aug. 15, 16 and 18. [
Read the Full Story Here]
2 of 21
Bubble Nebula by Hancock
Astrophographer Terry Hancock sent SPACE.com this image of the Bubble Nebula, or NGC 7635. He captured the photo from Down Under Observatory in Fremont, Mich. after 11 hours of exposure time over three nights in August. [
Read the Full Story Here]
3 of 21
The Splendor of Orion: A Star Factory Unveiled
Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team
This new Hubble image of the Orion Nebula shows dense pillars of gas and dust that may be the homes of fledgling stars, and hot, young, massive stars that have emerged from their cocoons and are shaping the nebula with powerful ultraviolet light.
4 of 21
Intricate Crab Nebula Poses for Hubble Close-Up
Credit: NASA/ESA and Jeff Hester (Arizona State University).
The Hubble Space Telescope has caught the most detailed view of the Crab Nebula in one of the largest images ever assembed by the space-based observatory.
5 of 21
New Picture Goes Into the Eye of the Helix Nebula
Credit: ESO
This color-composite image of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) was created from images obtained by the Wide Field Imager (WFI), an astronomical camera attached to the ESO telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile.
6 of 21
Two-Star Collision Yields Three-Ring Nebula
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/S.Park & D.Burrows.; Optical: NASA/STScI/CfA/P.Challis
Supernova 1987A occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy only 160,000 light years from Earth. The outburst was visible to the naked eye, and is the brightest known supernova in almost 400 years.
7 of 21
Near-Perfect Symmetry Revealed in Red Cosmic Square
Credit: Peter Tuthill, Palomar and Keck Observatories
An image of the Red Square nebula surrounding the hot star MWC 922. The picture was taken with infrared adaptive optics imaging at Palomar and Keck Observatories.
8 of 21
Huge Stars Seen as Source of Glowing Gas
Credit: Science
A million-degree plasma cloud in the Orion Nebula. The emission colored in blue shows X-ray emission from a hot plasma cloud in the extended regions of the Orion Nebula, detected by the XMM-Newton satellite. The background image has been recorded by the Spitzer Space Telescope in the infrared, showing emission from cool dust.
9 of 21
Violent Carina Nebula Seen in Detail
Credit: ESO
Several well known astronomical objects in and near the Carina Nebula can be seen in this wide field image: to the bottom left of the image is one of the most impressive binary stars in the Universe, Eta Carinae, with the famous Keyhole Nebula just adjacent to the star. The collection of very bright, young stars above and to the right of Eta Carinae is the open star cluster Trumpler 14. A second open star cluster, Collinder 228 is also seen in the image, just below Eta Carinae. North is up and East is to the left.
10 of 21
Cosmic Hand Reaches for the Light
Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane, et al.
Red represents low-energy X-rays, the medium range is green, and the most energetic ones are colored blue. The blue hand-like structure was created by energy emanating from the nebula around they dying star PSR B1509-58. The red areas are from a neighboring gas cloud called RCW 89.
11 of 21
Trisected Nebula Seen in Fresh Detail
Credit: ESO
A new image of the Trifid Nebula, named by English astronomer John Herschel, was taken with the Wide-Field Imager camera attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in northern Chile. Three different regions of the nebula can be seen in the image.
12 of 21
Dark Heart of a Nebula Finally Photographed
Credit: ESA and the SPIRE & PACS consortia, P. André (CEA Saclay) for the Gould’s Belt Key Programme Consortia
An inside view of the heart of the Eagle Nebula, captured by the Herschel space telescope on Oct. 24, 2009.
13 of 21
Glowing Nebula Reveals Cosmic Cat's Paw
Credit: ESO
This new portrait of NGC 6334 (the Cat's Paw Nebula) was created from images taken with the Wide Field Imager instrument at the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, combining images taken through blue, green and red filters, as well as a special filter designed to let through the light of glowing hydrogen.
14 of 21
Owl Nebula Wins Student's Choice Photo Contest
Credit: Émilie Storer (Collège Charlemagne, QUE), André-Nicolas Chené (HIA/NRC of Canada), and Travis Rector (U.Alaska, Anchorage)
Gemini North image of the planetary nebula M97, also known as the Owl Nebula, imaged by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) as part of a Canadian contest for high school students. The approximately 6,000 year-old nebula is located about 2,600 light-years away, and has a diameter of about three light-years across. It is located in the constellation of Ursa Major (which contains the Big Dipper).
15 of 21
Soul Nebula's Heart Caught on Camera
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team
NASA's WISE infrared space observatory mission team released this mosaic of the Soul Nebula (a.k.a. the Embryo Nebula, IC 1848, or W5) on April 2, 2010. The Soul Nebula is an open cluster of stars surrounded by a cloud of dust and gas over 150 light-years across and located about 6,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia, near the Heart Nebula.
16 of 21
Spectacular Space Bubble Photographed by Hubble
This new Hubble Space Telescope reveals a dazzling look at the N11 region of the Large Magellanic Cloud — a SATELLITE galaxy near the Milky Way — and was released on June 22, 2010.
17 of 21
Dying Star's Last Breath Frozen in Hubble Photo
The Hubble Space Telescope captured this striking image of the curious planetary nebula NGC 6210, which is located about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules.
18 of 21
Lagoon Nebula's Stellar Baby Boom
Credit: ESO/VVV Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
This new infrared view of the star formation region Messier 8, often called the Lagoon Nebula, was captured by the VISTA telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. This view was created from several other images acquired as in a huge survey of the central parts of the Milky Way.
19 of 21
Cosmic Nebulas Dazzle in New Space Telescope Photos
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team
An image of the Flaming Star Nebula, taken in infrared light by NASA's WISE space telescope.
20 of 21
Keep Your Distance
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team
The three nebulae in this image may appear close together, but in actuality they reside at different distances from the Earth. Nebula NGC 1491 glows on the right side of this WISE image, SH 2-209 sits on the left side and BFS 34 lies in between. NGC 1491 and BFS 34 are part of the same cloud complex at distance of about 10,700 light-years away in the Perseus arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. SH 2-209 lives farther away at about 16,000 light-years distance, located in the outer arm of the Milky Way.
21 of 21
Green Nebula Ring
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This glowing emerald nebula seen by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is reminiscent of the glowing ring wielded by the superhero Green Lantern.
