This infographic compares the characteristics of three classes of stars in our galaxy: Sunlike stars are classified as G stars; stars less massive and cooler than our Sun are K dwarfs; and even fainter and cooler stars are the reddish M dwarfs. The graphic compares the stars in terms of several...
Gravitationally Lensed Quasars
Quasars’ Multiple Images Shed Light on Tiny Dark Matter Clumps
Mosaic of Gravitationally Lensed Quasars
Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Yield Independent Measure of Universe's Expansion
NASA'S GREAT OBSERVATORIES HELP ASTRONOMERS BUILD A 3D VISUALIZATION OF EXPLODED STAR
MOVIE DISSECTS THE NEBULA'S INTRICATE NESTED STRUCTURE
Triangulum Galaxy Shows Stunning Face in Detailed Hubble Portrait
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has produced this stunningly detailed portrait of the Triangulum galaxy (M33), displaying a full spiral face aglow with the light of nearly 25 million individually resolved stars. It is the largest high-resolution mosaic image of Triangulum ever assembled, composed...
NASA's Hubble Surveys Gigantic Galaxy
This majestic spiral galaxy might earn the nickname the "Godzilla Galaxy" because it may be the largest known in the local universe. The galaxy, UGC 2885, is 2.5 times wider than our Milky Way and contains 10 times as many stars. But it is a "gentle giant," say researchers, because it looks like...
Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov Swings Past the Sun
Hubble Snaps the Best Close-ups Yet of Speedy Visitor From the Stars
ILLUSTRATION OF KEPLER 51 SYSTEM
NEW TYPE OF WORLD IS UNLIKE ANYTHING FOUND IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
NASA's Hubble Captures a Dozen Galaxy Doppelgangers
The Sunburst Arc This NASA Hubble Space Telescope photo reveals a cosmic kaleidoscope of a remote galaxy that has been split into a dozen multiple images by the effect of gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing means that the mass of a foreground galaxy cluster is so large it is bending...
GRB 190114C (Artist’s Impression)
New observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have investigated the nature of the powerful gamma-ray burst GRB 190114C by studying its environment. Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the Universe. They emit most of their energy in gamma rays, light which is much...
The top row of this mosaic features Hubble images of three spiral galaxies, each of which weighs several times as much as the Milky Way. The bottom row shows three even more massive spiral galaxies that qualify as “super spirals,” which were observed by the ground-based Sloan Digital Sky Survey....
Hubble Observes First Interstellar Comet
Visitor from Deep Space Provides Clues to the Birth of Planetary Systems
Hubble Captures Galaxies' Ghostly Gaze
Milky Way Raids Intergalactic 'Bank Accounts,' Hubble Study Finds
Astronomers have discovered an unexplained surplus of gas flowing into our Milky Way after conducting a galaxy-wide audit of outflowing and inflowing gas. Rather than a gas equilibrium and "balanced books," 10 years of data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show there is more gas coming in than...
A WEAKENED BLACK HOLE ALLOWS ITS GALAXY TO AWAKEN
BLOWTORCH JETS FROM A BLACK HOLE DRIVE STARBIRTH Supermassive black holes, weighing millions or even billions of times our Sun's mass, are still only a tiny fraction of the mass of the galaxies they inhabit. But in some cases, the central black hole is the tail wagging the dog. It seems that...
Hubble’s Latest Portrait of Saturn
Anyone who has ever peered at Saturn through a small telescope is immediately enticed by its elegant rings, which make the far-flung planet one of the most exotic-looking, opulent worlds in the solar system. The latest view of Saturn from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures exquisite...
Hubble Explores the Formation and Evolution of Star Clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Different structures of star clusters are due to different levels of dynamical aging.
NASA's Great Observatories Probe New Class of Exoplanet
Mysterious World Is Unlike Anything Found in Our Solar System
Hubble's New Portrait of Jupiter
A Close-Up Look at Jupiter's Dynamic Atmosphere Jupiter is the king of the solar system, more massive than all of the other solar-system planets combined. Although astronomers have been observing the gas-giant planet for hundreds of years, it still remains a mysterious world. Astronomers don't...
Hubble Uncovers Black Hole Disk that Shouldn't Exist
Hubble Probes the Black Hole Inside a Majestic Spiral Galaxy
NGC 4485
GALAXY BLAZES WITH NEW STARS BORN FROM CLOSE ENCOUNTER
M101, NGC 1448, and NGC 1365 are galaxies that were used to refine the Hubble Constant
ARTIST'S ILLUSTRATION OF EXOPLANETS PDS 70 B AND C
This artist's illustration shows two gas giant exoplanets orbiting the young star PDS 70. These planets are still growing by accreting material from a surrounding disk. In the process, they have gravitationally carved out a large gap in the disk. The gap extends from distances equivalent to the...
Large Magellanic Cloud (DSS View) with Star Cluster Overlay (Hubble)
Astronomers Use Hubble to Tighten the Cosmic Distance Ladder
HUBBLE WATCHES SPUN-UP ASTEROID COMING APART
FAST-SPINNING ASTEROID IS SHEDDING DUST INTO SPACE.
HUBBLE WATCHES SPUN-UP ASTEROID COMING APART
FAST-SPINNING ASTEROID IS SHEDDING DUST INTO SPACE.
NASA’s Webb to Explore Galaxies from Cosmic Dawn to Present Day
Abell 2744 Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora's Cluster, is a giant pile-up of four smaller galaxy clusters. The cluster is so massive that its powerful gravity bends the light from galaxies far behind it, making the background objects appear larger and brighter in a phenomenon called gravitational...
Too Hot and too Close for Comfort
Hubble Uncovers a 'Heavy Metal' Exoplanet Shaped Like a Football
Giant Star Yields New Clues About Turbulent Life
This Hubble Space Telescope image of the giant, petulant star Eta Carinae is yielding new surprises.
HUBBLE ASTRONOMERS ASSEMBLE WIDE VIEW OF THE EVOLVING UNIVERSE
IMAGE CONTAINS 265,000 GALAXIES THAT STRETCH BILLIONS OF YEARS BACK IN TIME.
Beastly Stars and a Bubble
A star forming region called BG2107+49 shines from the considerable distance of more than 30,000 light years away in the upper left of this image.
Hubble Celebrates 29th Anniversary with a Colorful Look at the Southern Crab Nebula
Hubble Celebrates 29th Anniversary with a Colorful Look at the Southern Crab Nebula
NASA's Webb Telescope Will Study an Iconic Supernova
Webb Will Probe the Dusty Remains of Supernova 1987A
Hubble Accidentally Discovers a New Galaxy in Cosmic Neighborhood
Isolated star-city Is a fossil from the early universe
Hubble Accidentally Discovers a New Galaxy in Cosmic Neighborhood
Isolated star-city Is a fossil from the early universe
Hubble Accidentally Discovers a New Galaxy in Cosmic Neighborhood
Isolated star-city Is a fossil from the early universe
Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune
The two major planets beyond Saturn have only been visited once by a spacecraft, albeit briefly. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft swung by Uranus in 1986, and Neptune in 1989. Our robotic deep-space tourist snapped the only close-up, detailed images of these monstrous worlds. For Neptune, the images...
Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune
The two major planets beyond Saturn have only been visited once by a spacecraft, albeit briefly. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft swung by Uranus in 1986, and Neptune in 1989. Our robotic deep-space tourist snapped the only close-up, detailed images of these monstrous worlds. For Neptune, the images...
Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune
The two major planets beyond Saturn have only been visited once by a spacecraft, albeit briefly. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft swung by Uranus in 1986, and Neptune in 1989. Our robotic deep-space tourist snapped the only close-up, detailed images of these monstrous worlds. For Neptune, the images...
Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune
The two major planets beyond Saturn have only been visited once by a spacecraft, albeit briefly. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft swung by Uranus in 1986, and Neptune in 1989. Our robotic deep-space tourist snapped the only close-up, detailed images of these monstrous worlds. For Neptune, the images...
Hubble Sees Plunging Galaxy Losing Its Gas
Two's company and three's a crowd. But thousands are a mosh pit. That's the case in the giant Coma cluster of more than 1,000 galaxies. Hubble spotted a wayward spiral galaxy losing its gas as it plunges toward the center of the massive cluster and is roughed up as it plows through the...
Hubble Sees Plunging Galaxy Losing Its Gas
Two's company and three's a crowd. But thousands are a mosh pit. That's the case in the giant Coma cluster of more than 1,000 galaxies. Hubble spotted a wayward spiral galaxy losing its gas as it plunges toward the center of the massive cluster and is roughed up as it plows through the...
Hubble Sees Plunging Galaxy Losing Its Gas
Two's company and three's a crowd. But thousands are a mosh pit. That's the case in the giant Coma cluster of more than 1,000 galaxies. Hubble spotted a wayward spiral galaxy losing its gas as it plunges toward the center of the massive cluster and is roughed up as it plows through the...
NEPTUNE'S INNER MOONS AND THEIR DIAMETERS
This diagram shows the orbital positions of Neptune's inner moons, which range in size from 20 to 260 miles across. The outer moon Triton was captured from the Kuiper belt many billions of years ago. This would have torn up Neptune's original satellite system. Triton settled into a circular...
ARTIST'S CONCEPT OF NEPTUNE'S MOON HIPPOCAMP
This is an artist's concept of the tiny moon Hippocamp that was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2013. Only 20 miles across, it may actually be a broken-off fragment from a much larger neighboring moon, Proteus, seen as a crescent in the background. This is the first evidence for a...
NASA's Hubble Helps Astronomers Uncover the Brightest Quasar in the Early Universe
Less than a billion years after the big bang, a monster black hole began devouring anything within its gravitational grasp. This triggered a firestorm of star formation around the black hole. A galaxy was being born. A blowtorch of energy, equivalent to the light from 600 trillion Suns, blazed...
NASA's Hubble Helps Astronomers Uncover the Brightest Quasar in the Early Universe
Less than a billion years after the big bang, a monster black hole began devouring anything within its gravitational grasp. This triggered a firestorm of star formation around the black hole. A galaxy was being born. A blowtorch of energy, equivalent to the light from 600 trillion Suns, blazed...
NASA's Hubble Helps Astronomers Uncover the Brightest Quasar in the Early Universe
Less than a billion years after the big bang, a monster black hole began devouring anything within its gravitational grasp. This triggered a firestorm of star formation around the black hole. A galaxy was being born. A blowtorch of energy, equivalent to the light from 600 trillion Suns, blazed...
Young Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs May Lack Ingredients for Life
Our Sun is not one of the most abundant types of star in our Milky Way galaxy. That award goes to red dwarfs, stars that are smaller and cooler than our Sun. In fact, red dwarfs presumably contain the bulk of our galaxy's planet population, which could number tens of billions of worlds. Surveys...
Young Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs May Lack Ingredients for Life
Our Sun is not one of the most abundant types of star in our Milky Way galaxy. That award goes to red dwarfs, stars that are smaller and cooler than our Sun. In fact, red dwarfs presumably contain the bulk of our galaxy's planet population, which could number tens of billions of worlds. Surveys...
Young Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs May Lack Ingredients for Life
Our Sun is not one of the most abundant types of star in our Milky Way galaxy. That award goes to red dwarfs, stars that are smaller and cooler than our Sun. In fact, red dwarfs presumably contain the bulk of our galaxy's planet population, which could number tens of billions of worlds. Surveys...
Triangulum Galaxy Shows Stunning Face in Detailed Hubble Portrait
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has produced this stunningly detailed portrait of the Triangulum galaxy (M33), displaying a full spiral face aglow with the light of nearly 25 million individually resolved stars. It is the largest high-resolution mosaic image of Triangulum ever assembled, composed...
Triangulum Galaxy Shows Stunning Face in Detailed Hubble Portrait
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has produced this stunningly detailed portrait of the Triangulum galaxy (M33), displaying a full spiral face aglow with the light of nearly 25 million individually resolved stars. It is the largest high-resolution mosaic image of Triangulum ever assembled, composed...
Faint Glow Within Galaxy Clusters Illuminates Dark Matter
Utilizing the powerful Hubble Frontier Fields observations of galaxy clusters, a study demonstrates that intracluster light — the light of stars orphaned in galaxy cluster mergers — aligns with dark matter, tracing its distribution more accurately than other methods. With broader use, astronomers...
Hubble Takes a Close Look at the Brightest Comet of the Year
On December 13th, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope photographed comet 46P/Wirtanen, a periodic comet that orbits the Sun once every 5.4 years. These observations were taken days before the comet’s closest approach to Earth on December 16th, when it passed just over 7 million miles from our planet....
Hubble Takes a Close Look at the Brightest Comet of the Year
On December 13th, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope photographed comet 46P/Wirtanen, a periodic comet that orbits the Sun once every 5.4 years. These observations were taken days before the comet’s closest approach to Earth on December 16th, when it passed just over 7 million miles from our planet....
Behind the Scenes of Recovering NASA's Hubble
In the early morning of October 27, 2018, the Hubble Space Telescope targeted a field of galaxies not far from the Great Square in the constellation Pegasus. Contained in the field were star-forming galaxies up to 11 billion light-years away. With the target in its sights, Hubble's Wide Field...
Hubble Uncovers Thousands of Globular Star Clusters Scattered Among Galaxies
Globular star clusters are favorite targets for amateur sky watchers. To the naked eye they appear as fuzzy-looking stars. Through a small telescope they resolve into glittering snowball-shaped islands of innumerable stars crowded together. About 150 globular star clusters orbit our Milky Way,...
Behind the Scenes of Recovering NASA's Hubble
In the early morning of October 27, 2018, the Hubble Space Telescope targeted a field of galaxies not far from the Great Square in the constellation Pegasus. Contained in the field were star-forming galaxies up to 11 billion light-years away. With the target in its sights, Hubble's Wide Field...
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NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The award is part of NASA’s Science Activation program, which strives to further enable NASA science experts and content into the learning environment more effectively and efficiently with learners of all ages.