The Twisted Dusty Disk of NGC 4753
Discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1784, NGC 4753 displays some truly fascinating features. In this image captured by the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, the galaxy’s intricate dust lanes are a sight to behold. NGC...
Hidden Among Supernovae
Approximately as bright in the night sky as Proxima Centauri, this quiescent spiral galaxy known as NGC 1058 betrays its unassuming appearance with a record of supernovae and starburst activity. Captured by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) at Gemini North, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab,...
M45 Pleiades
This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona. The Pleiades are an open cluster easily visible to the naked eye. The cluster is dominated by several hot, luminous and massive stars. The blue nebulosity surrounding the...
M101 Mosaic
Only four days after the explosion, NuSTAR observed the nearby core-collapse supernova SN2023ixf in M101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. The NuSTAR X-ray data (green) shows the X-ray detection over of the supernova. The X-ray data are overlaid on an archival optical image (NOIRLab/KPNO,...
Luminous in Lepus
This image shows the spiral galaxy IC 438, which lies about 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Lepus (the Hare). Lepus lies just south of the celestial equator (the ring around the middle of Earth that falls at right angles to its rotation axis). Appropriately, Lepus is...
Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe Discovered
A cluster of galaxies 2.6 billion light years from Earth.
A new collection of stunning images highlights data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes.
Gone but not forgotten
This image features a relatively small galaxy known as UGC 5189A, which is located about 150 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. This galaxy was observed by Hubble to study a supernova explosion in 2010 known as SN 2010jl. This particular supernova was notable for having been an...
When one plus one (eventually) equals one
This Hubble Picture of the Week features Arp 122, a peculiar galaxy that in fact comprises two galaxies — NGC 6040, the tilted, warped spiral galaxy and LEDA 59642, the round, face-on spiral — that are in the midst of a collision. This dramatic cosmic encounter is located at the very safe...
Euclid’s view of the Horsehead Nebula
Euclid shows us a spectacularly panoramic and detailed view of the Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33 and part of the constellation Orion
Uranus Wide (Compass Image)
This image of Uranus, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from...
Water in Protoplanetary Disk of PDS 70 (MIRI Emission Spectrum)
A spectrum of the protoplanetary disk of PDS 70, obtained with Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), displays a number of emission lines from water vapor. Scientists determined that the water is in the system’s inner disk, at distances of less than 100 million miles from the star – the region...
PDS 70 Inner Disk (Artist Concept)
This artist concept portrays the star PDS 70 and its inner protoplanetary disk. New measurements by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected water vapor at distances of less than 100 million miles from the star – the region where rocky, terrestrial planets may be forming. This is the...
Atmospheric Methane of Brown Dwarfs W1935 and W2220 (NIRSpec)
Astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study 12 cold brown dwarfs. Two of them – W1935 and W2220 – appeared to be near twins of each other in composition, brightness, and temperature. However, W1935 showed emission from methane, as opposed to the anticipated absorption feature...
Brown Dwarf W1935 (Artist Concept)
This artist concept portrays the brown dwarf W1935, which is located 47 light-years from Earth. Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found infrared emission from methane coming from W1935. This is an unexpected discovery because the brown dwarf is cold and lacks a host star;...
Beta Pictoris (NIRCam Compass Image)
This image from Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows the star system Beta Pictoris. An edge-on disk of dusty debris generated by collisions between planetesimals (orange) dominates the view. A hotter, secondary disk (cyan) is inclined by about 5 degrees relative to the primary disk. The...
Beta Pictoris (NIRCam Image)
This image from Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows the star system Beta Pictoris. An edge-on disk of dusty debris generated by collisions between planetesimals (orange) dominates the view. A hotter, secondary disk (cyan) is inclined by about 5 degrees relative to the primary disk. The...
Beta Pictoris (NIRCam Annotated Image)
This image from Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows the star system Beta Pictoris. An edge-on disk of dusty debris generated by collisions between planetesimals (orange) dominates the view. A hotter, secondary disk (cyan) is inclined by about 5 degrees relative to the primary disk. The...
Uranus Wide (Compass Image)
This image of Uranus, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from...
Uranus Wide (NIRCam Image)
This image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet and its rings in new clarity. The planet’s seasonal north polar cap gleams in a bright white, and Webb’s exquisite sensitivity resolves Uranus’ dim inner and outer rings, including the...
Uranus Close-up (NIRCam Image)
This image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet and its rings in new clarity. The Webb image exquisitely captures Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap, including the bright, white, inner cap and the dark lane in the bottom of the polar...
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the host galaxy of an exceptionally powerful Fast Radio Burst, FRB20220610A. Hubble’s sensitivity and sharpness reveals a compact group of multiple galaxies that may be in the process of merging. They existed when the Universe was only 5 billion years old. FRB...
North Ecliptic Pole
A swath of sky measuring 2% of the area covered by the Full Moon was imaged with Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) in eight filters and with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in three filters that together span the 0.25 – 5-micron wavelength range....
North Ecliptic Pole
A swath of sky measuring 2% of the area covered by the Full Moon was imaged with Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) in eight filters and with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in three filters that together span the 0.25 – 5-micron wavelength range....
Dual Quasar (J0749+2255)
Hubble Unexpectedly Finds Double Quasar in Distant Universe
L1527 and Protostar (NIRCam Image)
The protostar within the dark cloud L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is embedded within a cloud of material feeding its growth. Ejections from the star have cleared out cavities above and below it, whose boundaries glow orange and...
Image of Galaxy NGC 1068, Taken After Hubble's First Servicing Mission
The refurbished HST has provided this outstanding image of the nuclear region of the galaxy NGC 1068. NGC 1068 is located at a distance of approximately 60 Million Light Years and is the prototype of a class of galaxies, known as Seyfert Type 2.
Early Hubble Image of Galaxy NGC 1068
The refurbished HST has provided this outstanding image of the nuclear region of the galaxy NGC 1068. NGC 1068 is located at a distance of approximately 60 Million Light Years and is the prototype of a class of galaxies, known as Seyfert Type 2.
The Crab Nebula as seen by CONCERTO
This image of the Crab Nebula (also known as Messier 1) in the constellation of Taurus is one of the first-light images taken by the CONCERTO instrument on APEX telescope, operated by ESO. It is the remnant of a supernova explosion at a distance of about 6,000 light-years, observed almost 1,000...
CONCERTO show starts with new view of the Cat’s Paw Nebula
This image of the star-forming region NGC 6334, also known as the Cat’s Paw Nebula, is one of the first-light images taken by the CONCERTO instrument on the APEX telescope, operated by ESO. The new observations, shown in white and pink tones, have been superimposed to an image of the same...
The Cat’s Paw Nebula as seen by CONCERTO
This image of the star-forming region NGC 6334, also known as the Cat’s Paw Nebula, is one of the first-light images taken by the CONCERTO instrument on the APEX telescope, operated by ESO. The total integration time is 16 minutes. CONCERTO is able to scan the sky at frequencies between...
CONCERTO show starts with new view of the Crab Nebula
This image of the Crab Nebula (also known as Messier 1) in the constellation of Taurus is an overlay of one of the first-light images taken by the CONCERTO instrument on the APEX telescope, operated by ESO, with an image taken by the FORS 2 instrument on ESO’s VLT. CONCERTO’s data is the white...
So near, or so far?
What are we looking at when we study this image? A very distant galaxy that lies 19.5 billion light-years from Earth? Or a much closer luminous red galaxy that is a (relatively) small 2.7 billion light-years away? Or a third galaxy that appears to be fairly close to the second? The answer,...
NASA's Great Observatories Weigh Massive Young Galaxy Cluster
A massive galaxy cluster located about 10 billion light years from Earth.
It’s all relative
This Hubble Picture of the Week features a richness of spiral galaxies: the large, prominent spiral galaxy on the right side of the image is NGC 1356; the two apparently smaller spiral galaxies flanking it are LEDA 467699 (above it) and LEDA 95415 (very close at its left) respectively; and...
Sighting forbidden light
This whirling image features a bright spiral galaxy known as MCG-01-24-014, which is located about 275 million light-years from Earth. In addition to being a well-defined spiral galaxy, MCG-01-24-014 has an extremely energetic core, known as an active galactic nucleus (AGN), so it is referred...
IC 348 (NIRCam Image)
This image from the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348. Astronomers combed the cluster in search of tiny, free-floating brown dwarfs: objects too small to be stars but larger than most planets. They...
Brown Dwarfs in IC 348 (NIRCam Image)
This image from the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348. Astronomers combed the cluster in search of tiny, free-floating brown dwarfs: objects too small to be stars but larger than most planets. They...
HUBBLE WATCHES ‘SPOKE SEASON’ ON SATURN
This photo of Saturn was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023, when the ringed planet was approximately 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble's ultra-sharp vision reveals a phenomenon called ring spokes. Saturn's spokes are transient features that rotate along with the...
A Holiday Globe of Stars
Dwarf irregular galaxy UGC 8091 The billion stars in galaxy UGC 8091 resembles a sparkling snow globe in this festive Hubble Space Telescope image. The dwarf irregular galaxy is approximately 7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. Unlike other galaxies whose stars take a...
HUBBLE WATCHES ‘SPOKE SEASON’ ON SATURN
This photo of Saturn was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023, when the ringed planet was approximately 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble's ultra-sharp vision reveals a phenomenon called ring spokes. Saturn's spokes are transient features that rotate along with the...
The Running Chicken Nebula
The Running Chicken Nebula comprises several clouds, all of which we can see in this vast image from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at ESO’s Paranal site. This 1.5-billion pixel image spans an area in the sky of about 25 full Moons. The clouds shown in wispy pink plumes are full of gas...
Dwarf irregular galaxy UGC 8091 (wide-field view)
For the end of the year and the holiday season Hubble has captured the festive bundle of lights known as UGC 8091. UGC 8091, also known as GR 8, lies around seven million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. It is a dwarf irregular galaxy: a comparatively small, low-mass galaxy...
Dwarf irregular galaxy UGC 8091
For the end of the year and the holiday season Hubble has captured the festive bundle of lights known as UGC 8091. UGC 8091, also known as GR 8, lies around seven million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. It is a dwarf irregular galaxy: a comparatively small, low-mass galaxy...
Cassiopeia A Close-ups (NIRCam Image)
This image of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. The scale bar is labeled in light-years, which is...
Cassiopeia A Close-ups (NIRCam Image)
This image highlights several interesting features of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A as seen with Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera): NIRCam’s exquisite resolution is able to detect tiny knots of gas, comprised of sulfur, oxygen, argon, and neon from the star itself. Some filaments of debris...
Cassiopeia A (NIRCam Image)
A new high-definition image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) unveils intricate details of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), and shows the expanding shell of material slamming into the gas shed by the star before it exploded. The most noticeable colors...
The Sh2-284 nebula, imaged by the VLT Survey Telescope
This spectacular picture of the Sh2-284 nebula has been captured in great detail by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. Sh2-284 is a star formation region, and at its centre there is a cluster of young stars, dubbed Dolidze 25. The radiation from this cluster is powerful...
The sky around the Sh2-284 nebula
This image shows the sky around the location of the Sh2-284 nebula, which is visible in orange at the very centre of the frame. This picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
The Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in the Spiderweb protocluster
This image shows the protocluster around the Spiderweb galaxy (formally known as MRC 1138-262), seen at a time when the Universe was only 3 billion years old. Most of the mass in the protocluster does not reside in the galaxies that can be seen in the centre of the image, but in the gas known...
The Spiderweb protocluster
This image shows the protocluster around the Spiderweb galaxy (formally known as MRC 1138-262). The light that we see in the image shows galaxies at a time when the Universe was only 3 billion years old. Most of the mass in the protocluster does not reside in the galaxies, but in the gas known...
NGC 1097
NGC 1097 as part of the comparison image ann22015a.
ERIS sees first light, capturing a detailed view of the inner ring of NGC 1097
ERIS, the Very Large Telescope’s newest infrared eye on the sky, captured this stunning image of the inner ring of the galaxy NGC 1097. This galaxy is located 45 million light-years away from Earth, in the constellation Fornax. ERIS has captured the gaseous and dusty ring that lies at the very...
NGC 1097
NGC 1097 as part of the comparison image ann22015a.
First raw image obtained by NIRPS
The Near Infrared Planet Searcher (NIRPS) instrument, installed on ESO's 3.6-metre telescope, had its first light in mid-2022. Here we see the first raw data from the instrument, the spectrum of Barnard's star. Each horizontal line corresponds to a narrow region of light where both the...
WR 140 with JWST
The two stars in Wolf-Rayet 140, shown here, produce shells of dust every eight years that look like rings, as seen in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Each ring was created when the stars came close together and their stellar winds collided, compressing the gas and forming dust.
Glowing Hydrogen Bauble in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Orbiting around the Milky Way about 210,000 light-years away is the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). This satellite galaxy is a dwarf galaxy, about a twentieth the size of our own galaxy. Sitting among its hundred million stars is a 'bauble' of hydrogen gas, captured here with the 4.1-meter...
The first anniversary image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope displays star birth like it’s never been seen before, full of detailed, impressionistic texture. The subject is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. It is a relatively small, quiet...
IC 4212
IC 4212 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It is situated close to the celestial equator, meaning it is at least partly visible from both hemispheres in certain times of the year.
All lined up
This image features an interacting galaxy system known as Arp-Madore 2105-332, that lies about 200 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Microscopium. Like other recent Hubble Pictures of the Week, this system belongs to the Arp-Madore catalogue of peculiar galaxies. The wonderful...
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