Gamma-ray burst afterglow
The afterglow of GRB181123B, captured by the Gemini North telescope.
Planetary Nebula PuWe 1
This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. PuWe 1 is one of the largest and faintest planetary nebula known to exist. The nebula was created when a red giant star blew off its outer layers near the end...
N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
An image of N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, taken with the Curtis Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) as part of the Magellanic Clouds Emission-Line Survey (MCELS). This color image was produced using three separate exposures taken in hydrogen, sulfur and...
Dark Nebula LDN 810
This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. LDN 810 is a dark nebula that was first cataloged by B.T. Lynds in 1962. The dark region at the center contains gas and dust out of which new stars are...
Reflection Nebula NGC 1788
This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NGC 1788 is an unusual reflection nebula (bluish white at the center of the image) surrounded by a glowing red ring of hydrogen gas. The stars inside the...
Reflection Nebula NGC 1999
This wide-field panorama of star formation was captured with the National Science Foundation’s Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. Located in the constellation of Orion (the Hunter), the image show a portion of one of Orion’s giant molecular clouds (known as “Orion A”) where new stars are...
Planetary Nebula Sh2-290
This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Sh2-290 is an ancient planetary nebula. A planetary nebula is created when a low-mass star blows off its outer layers at the end of its life. Sh2-290 is one...
The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635)
The Bubble Nebula (NGC7635) is one of three shells of gas surrounding the massive star BD+602522, the bright star near the center of the bubble. Energetic radiation from the star ionizes the shell, causing it to glow. About six light-years in diameter, the Bubble Nebula is located in the...
Galactic Waltz NGC 1532-31
The interacting galaxy pair NGC 1532 and NGC 1531 were imaged using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) at Gemini South in Chile on December 5, 2004. This view reveals spectacular details in the galactic pair embraced in a fiery waltz. The larger galaxy (NGC 1532) is a spiral, and from...
Hubble Space Telescope image of SN 2019ehk
Hubble Space Telescope image of SN 2019ehk in its spiral host galaxy, Messier 100. The image is a composite made of pre- and post-explosion images.
NGC 281
This image is a wide-field view of the star-forming region NGC281 taken with the WIYN 0.9-meter at Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Centaurus A captured by the Dark Energy Camera
The galaxy Centaurus A, which lies over 12 million light-years away in the direction of the southern-hemisphere constellation Centaurus (The Centaur), is the leading light of this striking image. This image provides a spectacular view of the luminous glow of stars and dark tendrils of dust that...
On the edge of the Lagoon
The teeming stars of the globular cluster NGC 6544 glisten in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This cluster of tightly bound stars lies more than 8000 light-years away from Earth and is — like all globular clusters — a densely populated region of tens of thousands of stars....
Emission line image of M27
This excellent image of the Dumbbell Nebula (M27, NGC6853), a planetary nebula in the constellation of Vulpecula, was taken at the 3.5-meter WIYN telescope using the mini-mosaic imager (described in an NOAO newsletter article). The nebula was formed when an evolved, red giant star ejected its...
Messier 66 — member of the Leo Triplet
The spiral galaxy Messier 66 is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). Together with Messier 65 and NGC 3628, Messier 66 is a member of the Leo Triplet, a trio of interacting spiral galaxies. Like all the galaxies in LEGUS, Messier 66 is...
The Helix Nebula, NGC 7293
This composite picture is a seamless blend of nine ultra-sharp images from the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys with the wide-field view of the Mosaic Camera on the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The image shows a fine web of filamentary...
A Dead Star’s Shroud
This image, which looks a little like an enormous bubble in space, features a planetary nebula known as EGB 6. It was imaged by the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Planetary nebulae, notoriously, have nothing to do with...
NOIRLab releases best view yet of a neighboring dwarf galaxy
Barnard’s Galaxy, a dwarf galaxy neighboring the Milky Way, is revealed in this stunning image from the Víctor M. Blanco 4-m Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab. The image reveals regions of intense star formation and a scattering of immense...
Starburst Galaxy M82
This image is a color-coded picture of the archetypal starburst galaxy M82. It shows the horizontal stellar disk of the galaxy, which harbors its active star formation, and a perpendicular supergalactic wind of ionized gas powered by the energy released in the starburst. To make this image,...
Supernova SN2011fe in M101
This close-up image of the nearby galaxy M101 was obtained with the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. M101 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major and is quite similar to our own Galaxy. It is about 20 million light years (6.4 Mpc) away. The supernova is...
Glistening Spiral Galaxy
The spiral galaxy NGC 2541 is shown in extravagant detail in this astronomical snapshot from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Astronomers recognize a variety of galaxy types, and NGC 2541 is classified as an unbarred spiral...
Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, Messier 83
Nicknamed the Southern Pinwheel, Messier 83 (or NGC 5236) is a stunning face-on spiral galaxy located about 15 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Hydra. Its spiral arms are lined with dark lanes of dust and peppered with reddish, star-forming clouds of hydrogen gas. One...
Rosette emission-line image
This stunning emission-line image of the Rosette nebula (NGC2237) has been re-processed in support of NOAO Press Release 04-03. The Rosette nebula is found in the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn). This images was taken at the National Science Foundation's 0.9-m telescope on Kitt Peak with...
‘Taffy Galaxies’ Collide, Leave Behind Bridge of Star-Forming Material
The Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, captured this dazzling image of the so-called Taffy Galaxies — UGC 12914 and UGC 12915. Their twisted appearance is the result of a head-on collision that occurred about 25 million years...
JADES (NIRCam Image)
This infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was taken for the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, program. It shows a portion of an area of the sky known as GOODS-South, which has been well studied by the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories. More...
EIGER Survey (NIRCam Image)
There are more than 20,000 galaxies in this field. This James Webb Space Telescope view is found between the Pisces and Andromeda constellations. Researchers using Webb anchored their observations on quasar J0100+2802, an active supermassive black hole that acts like a beacon. It is at the...
Comet 238P/Read (NIRCam Image)
This image of Comet 238P/Read was captured by the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on September 8, 2022. It displays the hazy halo, called the coma, and tail that are characteristic of comets, as opposed to asteroids. The dusty coma and tail result...
EIGER Survey OIII emitters (NIRCam Image)
The James Webb Space Telescope has returned extraordinarily detailed images and spectra of galaxies that existed when the universe was only 900 million years old. “In Webb’s near-infrared image, we can see structures in every individual galaxy that the telescope detected,” shared Jorryt Matthee...
Enceladus Plume (MIRI and Cassini Image)
Webb’s View of the Molecular Cloud Chameleon I
This image by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) features the central region of the Chameleon I dark molecular cloud, which resides 630 light years away. The cold, wispy cloud material (blue, centre) is illuminated in the infrared by the glow of the...
A jellyfish galaxy adrift
The jellyfish galaxy JW39 hangs serenely in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy lies over 900 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, and is one of several jellyfish galaxies that Hubble has been studying over the past two years. Despite this...
A Spiral Amongst Thousands
A crowded field of galaxies throngs this ESA/Webb Picture of the Month from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, along with bright stars crowned with Webb’s signature six-pointed diffraction spikes. The large spiral galaxy at the base of this image is accompanied by a profusion of...
Under the Sea
The jellyfish galaxy JO206 trails across this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showcasing a colourful star-forming disc surrounded by a pale, luminous cloud of dust. A handful of bright stars with criss-cross diffraction spikes stand out against an inky black backdrop at the...
Globular Star Cluster M4
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular star cluster, Messier 4. The cluster is a dense collection of several hundred thousand stars. Astronomers suspect that an intermediate-mass black hole, weighing as much as 800 times the mass of our Sun, is lurking, unseen, at its core. [Image...
Scrutinising a star-studded cluster
The densely packed globular cluster NGC 6325 glistens in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This concentrated group of stars lies around 26 000 light years from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus. Globular clusters like NGC 6325 are tightly bound collections of stars with...
Infrared detection of the cold brown dwarf
An infrared image of the cold brown dwarf BDR J1750+3809 taken with Gemini North’s acquisition camera for the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) and Gemini’s Near InfraRed Imager and spectrograph (NIRI). The image is a color composite showing the infrared filters in chromatic order,...
Hidden Galaxy Home of GRB (Unannotated)
Unannotated image of the region of the sky surrounding a recently identified galaxy that was found to be the home of GRB 151229A, a short gamma-ray burst. Astronomers calculate that this burst, which lies in the direction of the constellation Capricornus, occurred approximately 9 billion years...
This image of the Fomalhaut system, captured by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. Labels indicate the various structures. At right, a great dust cloud is highlighted and pullouts show it in two infrared wavelengths: 23 and 25.5...
This image of the dusty debris disk surrounding the young star Fomalhaut is from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). It reveals three nested belts extending out to 14 billion miles (23 billion kilometers) from the star. The inner belts – which had never been seen before – were revealed by...
Radio Galaxy 53W002
This is a small portion of an image taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Planetary camera (WFPC) in WF mode a near-infrared (F785LP) filter, showing the distant radio galaxy 53W002 at lower left. The region shown is a subimage 100 WFC pixels (10.16 arcseconds) on a side....
Central Star of Nebula NGC 2440: One of Hottest Known Stars
This photograph from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope presents the first clear view of one of the hottest known stars, the central star of nebula NGC 2440 in our Milky Way galaxy. The superhot star, called "the NGC 2440 nucleus" is the bright white dot in the center of this photograph. In...
Webb Observes Hubble Ultra Deep Field (NIRCam Image)
This image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field was taken by the Near Infrared Camera on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. It includes 1.8-micron light shown in blue, 2.1-micron light shown in green, 4.3-micron light shown in yellow, 4.6-micron light shown in orange, and 4.8-micron light shown in...
Distant Protocluster (NIRCam Image)
The seven galaxies highlighted in this James Webb Space Telescope image have been confirmed to be at a distance that astronomers refer to as redshift 7.9, which correlates to 650 million years after the big bang. This makes them the earliest galaxies yet to be spectroscopically confirmed as...
Pandora Cluster (NIRCam Image)
Cassiopeia A (MIRI Compass Image)
Webb Reveals Never-Before-Seen Details in Cassiopeia A
Cassiopeia A (MIRI Image)
Webb Reveals Never-Before-Seen Details in Cassiopeia A
Exoplanet GJ 486 b (Transmission Spectrum)
This graphic shows the transmission spectrum obtained by Webb observations of rocky exoplanet GJ 486 b. The science team’s analysis shows hints of water vapor; however, computer models show that the signal could be from a water-rich planetary atmosphere (indicated by the blue line) or from...
Exoplanet GJ 486 b (Artist Concept)
This artist concept represents the rocky exoplanet GJ 486 b, which orbits a red dwarf star that is only 26 light-years away in the constellation Virgo. By observing GJ 486 b transit in front of its star, astronomers sought signs of an atmosphere. They detected hints of water vapor. However,...
Uranus (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s Webb Scores Another Ringed World with New Image of Uranus
Uranus (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s Webb Scores Another Ringed World with New Image of Uranus
Uranus (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s Webb Scores Another Ringed World with New Image of Uranus
Illustration of Asteroid (Artist’s Impression)
A previously unknown 100–200-metre asteroid — roughly the size of Rome’s Colosseum — has been detected by an international team of European astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Their project used data from the calibration of the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), in which...
Uranus (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s Webb Scores Another Ringed World with New Image of Uranus
Arp 220 (NIRCam + MIRI Image)
Shining like a brilliant beacon amidst a sea of galaxies, Arp 220 lights up the night sky in this view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Actually two spiral galaxies in the process of merging, Arp 220 glows brightest in infrared light, making it an ideal target for Webb. It is an...
WR 124 (MIRI Image)
Wolf-Rayet stars are known to be efficient dust producers, and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows this to great effect. Cooler cosmic dust glows at the longer mid-infrared wavelengths, displaying the structure of WR 124’s nebula. The nebula is made of...
Chameleon I Molecular Cloud (NIRCam Image)
This image by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) features the central region of the Chamaeleon I dark molecular cloud, which resides 630 light years away. The cold, wispy cloud material (blue, center) is illuminated in the infrared by the glow of the young,...
HUBBLE CELEBRATES 33RD ANNIVERSARY WITH A PEEK INTO A NEARBY STAR-FORMING REGION
Dark Nebula is a Cauldron of Star Birth You should know where you come from, but understanding the birth of our Sun and family of planets is largely sketchy because it happened 4.6 billion years ago. Trying to imagine far back in time, what were the initial conditions for the genesis of our...
Chamaeleon I Dark Cloud (NIRCam, NIRSpec, and MIRI Spectra)
Astronomers have taken an inventory of the most deeply embedded ices in a cold molecular cloud to date. They used light from a background star, named NIR38, to illuminate the dark cloud called Chameleon I. Ices within the cloud absorbed certain wavelengths of infrared light, leaving spectral...
HUBBLE CELEBRATES 33RD ANNIVERSARY WITH A PEEK INTO A NEARBY STAR-FORMING REGION
Dark Nebula is a Cauldron of Star Birth You should know where you come from, but understanding the birth of our Sun and family of planets is largely sketchy because it happened 4.6 billion years ago. Trying to imagine far back in time, what were the initial conditions for the genesis of our...
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