The Spider (and not its web)
This gauzy-looking celestial body is UGC 5829, an irregular galaxy that lies about 30 million light-years away. Despite there not being many observations of this relatively faint galaxy, it has the distinction of having a descriptive soubriquet: the Spider Galaxy. Perhaps the distorted galactic...
An unlikely spiral
This image shows LEDA 42160, a galaxy about 52 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. The dwarf galaxy is one of many forcing its way through the comparatively dense gas in the Virgo cluster, a massive cluster of galaxies. The pressure exerted by this intergalactic gas,...
A matter of perspective
Here we see NGC 4423, a galaxy that lies about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. In this image NGC 4423 appears to have quite an irregular, tubular form, so it might be surprising to find out that it is in fact a spiral galaxy. Knowing this, we can make out the denser...
Io
A composite image of Io obtained through a near-infrared, narrow optical filter (Brackett-gamma at wavelength 2.166 µm) and a longer wavelength (L'-filter at 3.8 µm), with a latitude-longitude grid superposed and some of the main surface features identified.
Io
Io, the volcanic moon of Jupiter, as imaged with the VLT NAOS-CONICA Adaptive Optics instrument on 5 December 2001, through a near-infrared, narrow optical filter (Brackett-gamma at wavelength 2.166 µm). Despite the small angular diameter of Io, about 1.2 arcsec, many features are visible at...
The globular cluster 47 Tuc
Based on data obtained with FORS1 on Kueyen, UT2 of the Very Large Telescope. The image, 7 arcmin wide, covers the central core of the 30 arcmin large globular cluster. The observations were taken in three different filters: U, R, and a narrow-band filter centred around 485 nm, for a total...
Four SDI-NACO images
Four images of Titan, obtained simultaneously with the NACO adaptive optics instrument in the SDI observing mode with the corresponding wavebands indicated. The individual images have a diameter of 0.86 arcsec and have here been magnified for clarity. As explained in the text, the images...
Provisional names of Titan surface features
Identification of the low-reflection areas now seen on the surface of Titan and which were given provisional names.
Simultaneous views of Titan's surface and atmosphere
Two simultaneous images of Titan, obtained on February 7, 2004, with NACO in SDI mode. Left : at 1.575 μm with a clear view towards the surface. Right : at 1.625 μm, where the atmosphere appears entirely opaque.
NACO images of Titan's surface
An image of Titan by NACO, obtained in a waveband at 1.3 μm that does not perfectly match an atmospheric window is compared to a SDI-NACO image of the same region. The greater clarity and contrast of the latter is evident; it is due to the smaller degree of "atmospheric contamination".
Map of Titan's surface features
Map of Titan's surface features. It was obtained through a "transparent", narrow spectral window with the 8.2-m VLT YEPUN telescope and the NACO adaptive optics instrument operated in the Simultaneous Differential Imager (SDI) mode. It covers about three-quarters of the full surface and has an...
Six nightly views of Titan's surface
Views of Titan, obtained on six nights in February 2004. At the right, the image from the first night (Feburary 1-2, 2004) has been enlarged for clarity and the coordinate grid on Titan is indicated. The images are false-colour renderings with the three SDI wavebands as red (1.575 μm; surface),...
Comet Hyakutake
Image showing comet Hyakutake. The comet was discovered in 1996 by Yuji Hyakutake in Japan, and was initially designated Comet C/1996 B2.
Comet Hyakutake
Image of Comet Hyakutake, taken by ESO's Schmidt telescope, located at La Silla observatory in Chile.
Parallel Field to Protostar IRAS 23385 (MIRI Image)
This image was taken by MIRI (the Mid-Infrared Instrument) on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope of a region near the protostar known as IRAS 23385. The image is a single exposure at a wavelength of 15 microns which has been assigned an orange color. IRAS 23385 and IRAS 2A (not visible in this...
GOODS-North Field (NIRCam Image Unannotated)
This image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument shows a portion of the GOODS-North field of galaxies. At lower right, a pullout highlights the galaxy GN-z11, which is seen at a time just 430 million years after the big bang. The image reveals an extended component, tracing the...
GOODS-North Field (NIRCam Image)
This image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument shows a portion of the GOODS-North field of galaxies. At lower right, a pullout highlights the galaxy GN-z11, which is seen at a time just 430 million years after the big bang. The image reveals an extended component, tracing the...
Jupiter OPAL 2024
This 12-panel series of Hubble Space Telescope images, taken January 5-6, 2024, presents snapshots of a full rotation of the giant planet Jupiter. The Great Red Spot can be used to measure the planet's real rotation rate of nearly 10 hours. The innermost Galilean satellite, Io is seen in...
HUBBLE FOLLOWS STORMY WEATHER ON JUPITER
The giant planet Jupiter, in all its banded glory, is revisited by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in these latest images, taken on January 5-6, 2024, capturing both sides of the planet. Hubble monitors Jupiter and the other outer solar system planets every year under the Outer Planet Atmospheres...
Open Star Cluster [FSR2007] 1410
This is the open star cluster [FSR2007] 1410. An open star cluster is a loosely bound group of a few tens to a few hundred stars. They are found in spiral and irregular galaxies. This object is one of the many cosmic treasures found within the new 1.3 gigapixel Vela Supernova Remnant image,...
Planetary Nebula PNG 262.4-01.9
This is the planetary nebula PNG 262.4-01.9. A planetary nebula is a region of cosmic gas and dust formed from the cast-off outer layers of a dying star. This object is one of the many cosmic treasures found within the new 1.3 gigapixel Vela Supernova Remnant image, captured with the Department...
Globular Star Cluster CI Ferrero 54
This is the globular star cluster CI Ferrero 54. A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars that is bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. This object is one of the many cosmic treasures found within the new 1.3 gigapixel Vela...
Supernova Remnant Puppis A
Puppis A (Pup A) is a supernova remnant about 100 light-years in diameter and roughly 6500–7000 light-years away. This object is one of the many cosmic treasures found within the new 1.3 gigapixel Vela Supernova Remnant image, captured with the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy...
This image shows a distant, twinkling spiral galaxy — one of the many cosmic treasures found within the new 1.3 gigapixel Vela Supernova Remnant image, captured with the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera, mounted on the US National Science Foundation's Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter...
Dark Nebula TGU H1674
This is the dark nebula TGU H1674. Dark nebulae – or absorption nebulae – are clouds of gas and dust that are so dense they obscure and block visible light, making them appear inky black against the starry background. This object is one of the many cosmic treasures found within the new 1.3...
Wide-field view of a region of the sky in Upper Scorpius
This image shows a wide field view of a region of the sky in the Upper Scorpius constellation. It was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
The Jewel Box cluster and the Coalsack Nebula
The Jewel Box open cluster (NGC 4755 or Kappa Crucis) and the Coalsack Nebula, in the constellation Crux. The Jewel Box is the cluster just above centre in the image. The very bright star up and to the right is Mimosa (Beta Crucis). Image from the ESO/SERC (J) survey plates.
A raw image from ISAAC
This raw ISAAC image was used, combined with many others, to generate the photo at the top of this page. All the images taken with astronomical instruments are monochromatic: the information on the colour is obtained by taking exposures through different filters. In infrared light, the sky is...
LMC snapped by the ESO 1-metre Schmidt telescope
Astronomers used the ESO 1-metre Schmidt telescope to capture this image of the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) galaxy in 1986.
Raw image from a KMOS detector
On the tip of each of KMOS’ 24 arms, a small optical device splits the image in 14 slices of 14 pixels each. These slices are aligned on the entrance of one of the 3 spectrograph, which disperses the light in wavelength, forming spectra of each of the original pixels, as seen on this raw image...
NGC 604 (NIRCam Image)
This image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) of star-forming region NGC 604 shows how stellar winds from bright, hot young stars carve out cavities in surrounding gas and dust. The bright orange streaks in this image signify the presence of carbon-based...
NGC 604 (MIRI Image)
This image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) of star-forming region NGC 604 shows how large clouds of cooler gas and dust glow in mid-infrared wavelengths. This region is a hotbed of star formation and home to more than 200 of the hottest, most massive...
Supernova 1987a (NIRCam, MIRI and NIRSpec Image)
The James Webb Space Telescope has observed the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star at the site of a well-known and recently-observed supernova known as SN 1987A. At left is a NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) image released in 2023. The image at top right shows light from singly...
NGC 5468 (Webb NIRCam + Hubble WFC3)
This image of NGC 5468, a galaxy located about 130 million light-years from Earth, combines data from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. This is the farthest galaxy in which Hubble has identified Cepheid variable stars. These are important milepost markers for measuring the expansion...
Cepheid P42 in NGC 5468
At the center of these side-by-side images is a special class of star used as a milepost marker for measuring the universe’s rate of expansion – a Cepheid variable star. The two images are very pixelated because they are a very zoomed-in view of a distant galaxy. Each of the pixels represents...
Galaxy AM 1054-325
Galaxy AM 1054-325 has been distorted into an S-shape from a normal pancake-like spiral shape by the gravitational pull of a neighboring galaxy, seen in this Hubble Space Telescope image. A consequence of this is that newborn clusters of stars form along a stretched-out tidal tail for thousands...
Dark and towering
Astronomers are well-known for naming objects with odd conventions, and the cometary globule GN 16.43.7.01 seen in this Picture of the Week is no exception. Cometary globules have nothing to do with comets aside from appearance: they are named for their dusty head and elongated, dark tail, as...
The MWC 758 planet-forming disc as seen by SPHERE and ALMA
This composite image shows the MWC 758 planet-forming disc, located about 500 light-years away in the Taurus region, as seen with two different facilities. The yellow colour represents infrared observations obtained with the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE)...
Messier 55 (M55) globular cluster
Globular cluster Messier 55 (M55, or NGC 6809) in the constellation Sagittarius, as imaged by the ESO 3.6-metre telescope on La Silla.
The Southern Pinwheel
Located about 15 million light-years away towards the Hydra (the sea serpent) constellation, Messier 83 is a nearby face-on barred spiral with a classic grand design form. It is the main member of a small galactic group including NGC 5253 and about 9 dwarf galaxies. Messier 83 stretches over...
Jet in M87 spied by the VLT
A jet of material shoots out of M87, a giant elliptical galaxy about 50 million light years away in the Virgo Cluster. The powerful jet shines in the energetic blue and ultraviolet range, while old, cool stars in the galaxy proper emit less energetic reddish light. A supermassive black hole at...
Messier 4 (M4) globular cluster
Globular cluster Messier 4 (M4, or NGC 6121) in the constellation Scorpius as imaged by the ESO Schmidt Telescope on La Silla.
Wide-field view of the sky around the globular cluster 47 Tucanae
This view of 47 Tucanae covers a field of view of 2.4 x 2.8 degrees, and shows the landscape around the cluster. It is a colour composite made using exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Below and to the left of 47 Tucanae is another small, bright star cluster named NGC 121, and several...
El Gordo: a massive distant merging galaxy cluster
This picture of the galaxy cluster ACT-CL J0102−4915 combines images taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope with images from the SOAR Telescope and X-ray observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The X-ray image shows the hot gas in the cluster and is shown in blue. This newly...
Highlights of the VST image of the Hercules galaxy cluster
These highlights, taken from a new image of the young Hercules galaxy cluster from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) and the OmegaCAM camera, show a wide variety of interacting galaxies. The numerous interactions, and the large number of gas-rich, star-forming spiral galaxies in the cluster, make...
Teenage galaxies in the distant Universe (unannotated)
This deep view of a tiny patch of sky in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster) shows a rich sea of galaxies at many different distances. A selection of these, seen as they were between three and five billion years after the Big Bang, was used in a new survey of the feeding habits of...
This image of the sky around the star Tau Boötis was created from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 images. The star itself, which is bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye, is at the centre. The spikes and coloured circles around it are artifacts of the telescope and photographic plate used...
Wide-field view of the sky around the quasar HE0109-3518
This wide-field image of the sky around the quasar HE0109-3518 is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The total field of view of this image is approximately 3 degrees across.
Wide-field view of the sky around the cluster NGC 6604
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around the star cluster NGC 6604 was created from photographs taken through blue, red and infrared filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The star cluster appears close to the centre, as a knot of bright stars. This view shows...
Distant star-forming galaxies in the early Universe
The LABOCA camera on the ESO-operated 12-metre Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope reveals distant galaxies undergoing the most intense type of star formation activity known, called a starburst. This image shows these distant galaxies, found in a region of sky known as the Extended...
Wide-field view of the sky around the globular star cluster Messier 55
This visible light wide-field image of the region around Messier 55 was created from photographs taken through blue and red filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The globular cluster appears at the centre. The field of view is approximately 2.7 degrees across.
Wide-field view of the sky around the bright star Fomalhaut
This wide-field view shows the sky around the bright star Fomalhaut in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus (The Southern Fish). This picture was created from photographs forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Fomalhaut lies about 25 light-years from the Earth and is surrounded by a huge...
Infrared/visible light comparison view of the Helix Nebula
This comparison shows a new view of the Helix Nebula acquired with the VISTA telescope in infrared light (left) and the more familiar view in visible light from the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope (right). The infrared vision of VISTA reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in...
The bright star Alpha Centauri and its surroundings
This wide-field view of the sky around the bright star Alpha Centauri was created from photographic images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The star appears so big just because of the scattering of light by the telescope's optics as well as in the photographic emulsion. Alpha...
APEX image of a star-forming filament in Taurus
This image from the APEX telescope, of part of the Taurus Molecular Cloud, shows a sinuous filament of cosmic dust more than ten light-years long. In it, newborn stars are hidden, and dense clouds of gas are on the verge of collapsing to form yet more stars. The cosmic dust grains are so cold...
The Prawn Nebula from ESO's VST (wide crop)
The glowing jumble of gas clouds visible in this new image make up a huge stellar nursery nicknamed the Prawn Nebula. Taken using the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, this may well be the sharpest picture ever taken of this object. It shows clumps of hot new-born...
Wide-field view of the entire Seagull Nebula (IC 2177)
This wide-field view captures the evocative and colourful star formation region of the Seagull Nebula, IC 2177, on the borders of the constellations of Monoceros (The Unicorn) and Canis Major (The Great Dog). This view was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
ALMA observes a ring around the bright star Fomalhaut
This view shows a new picture of the dust ring around the bright star Fomalhaut from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The underlying blue picture shows an earlier picture obtained by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The new ALMA image has given astronomers a major...
Wide-field view of the sky around VFTS 102: the fastest rotating massive star
This view shows part of the stellar nursery called the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighbour of the Milky Way. At the centre lies the brilliant star VFTS 102 This view includes both visible-light and infrared images from the Wide Field Imager at the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre...
Dark galaxies spotted for the first time (annotated)
This deep image shows the region of the sky around the quasar HE0109-3518. The quasar is labelled with a red circle near the centre of the image. The energetic radiation of the quasar makes dark galaxies glow, helping astronomers to understand the obscure early stages of galaxy formation. The...
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