50 Fabulous Deep-Space Nebula Photos

Star Birth in Living Color

Sharpless 2-106 as imaged by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai‘i. This color composite image shows the nursery of a massive star (hidden within the cloud) obtained with four narrow-band optical filters available for Gemini users at both Gemini North and South.

Owl Nebula Wins Student's Choice Photo Contest

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).

Star-Formation Details Seen in New Images

An active star-formation region in the Orion nebula, as seen by Planck. This image covers a region of 13x13 degrees. It is a three-color combination constructed from three of Planck's nine frequency channels: 30, 353 and 857 GHz.

Soul Nebula's Heart Caught on Camera

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.

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.

Baby Stars Sparkle in New Photo of Tarantula Nebula

This VISTA image shows the spectacular 30 Doradus star-forming region, also called the Tarantula Nebula. At its core is a large cluster of stars known as R 136, in which some of the most massive stars known are located. This infrared image, made with ESO's VISTA survey telescope, is from the VISTA Magellanic Cloud Survey.

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.

Hubble Captures Dazzling Infant Star in Orion Nebula

This image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the spectacular region around an object known as Herbig-Haro 502, a very small part of the vast stellar nursery in the picturesque Orion Nebula. An infant star is visible just left of center.

Cosmic Nebulas Dazzle in New Space Telescope Photos

An image of the Flaming Star Nebula, taken in infrared light by NASA's WISE space telescope.

Lagoon Nebula's Stellar Baby Boom Seen in New Photo

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.