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Addition DateSort Ascending Target Mission Instrument Size
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-07-21 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
Visible Light
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This new false-colored image from NASA's Hubble, Chandra and Spitzer space telescopes shows a giant jet of particles that has been shot out from the vicinity of a type of supermassive black hole called a quasar.
PIA08617:
Black Hole Spills Kaleidoscope of Color
Full Resolution:     TIFF (973.2 kB)     JPEG (10.56 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-08-23 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
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This artist's concept depicts a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy. NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer found evidence that black holes (once they grow to a critical size) stifle the formation of new stars in elliptical galaxies.
PIA08696:
An Unwelcome Place for New Stars (artist concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (1.465 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-08-23 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
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This diagram illustrates research from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer showing that black holes (once they reach a critical size) can put the brakes on new star formation in elliptical galaxies.
PIA08697:
Big Black Holes Mean Bad News for Stars (diagram)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (494.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-12-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept illustrates the universe's early years, from its explosive formation to its dark ages to its first stars and mini-galaxies. Scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found patches of infrared light splattered across the sky.
PIA09099:
Stars Spring up Out of the Darkness (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (930.5 kB)     JPEG (22 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2006-12-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This is an image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of stars and galaxies in the Ursa Major constellation. This infrared image covers a region of space so large that light would take up to 100 million years to travel across it.
PIA09100:
The Universe's First Fireworks
Full Resolution:     TIFF (11.13 MB)     JPEG (405.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-05-30 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows how astronomers use the unique orbit of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and a depth-perceiving trick called parallax to determine the distance of dark planets, black holes and failed stars that lurk invisibly among us.
PIA09562:
Depth Perception in Space (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.62 MB)     JPEG (731.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-05-30 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Using the unique orbit of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and a depth-perceiving trick called parallax, astronomers have determined the distance to an invisible Milky Way object called OGLE-2005-SMC-001.
PIA09563:
Distance to Dark Bodies
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (683.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-10-25 Spitzer Space Telescope
MIPS
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NASA's Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes have uncovered a long-lost population of active supermassive black holes, or quasars located deep in the bellies of distant, massive galaxies (circled in blue).
PIA10091:
Missing Black Holes Found!
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.145 MB)     JPEG (69.72 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-10-25 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Chandra X-ray Telescope
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These two images show 'stacked' Chandra images for two different classes of distant, massive galaxy detected with NASA's Spitzer. Image stacking is a procedure used to detect emission from objects that is too faint to be detected in single images.
PIA10092:
Stacks of Light
Full Resolution:     TIFF (39.02 MB)     JPEG (385.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-10-25 Spitzer Space Telescope
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A growing black hole, called a quasar, is seen at the center of a faraway galaxy in this artist's concept. Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes discovered swarms of similar quasars hiding in dusty galaxies in the distant universe.
PIA10093:
Bursting with Stars and Black Holes (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (501.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2007-12-13 M51 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
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A composite image of M51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, shows the majesty of its structure in a dramatic new way through several of NASA's orbiting observatories.
PIA10200:
A Classic Beauty
Full Resolution:     TIFF (16.93 MB)     JPEG (526.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2008-01-10 NGC 3621 Spitzer Space Telescope
Infrared Spectrograph (IRS)
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This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope indicates that a flat, spiral galaxy called NGC 3621 has a feeding, supermassive black hole lurking within it.
PIA10220:
Slender Galaxy with Robust Black Hole
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (326.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2008-01-10 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope provide strong evidence that the slender, bulgeless galaxies can, like their chubbier counterparts, harbor supermassive black holes at their cores in this artist concept.
PIA10221:
Galaxies of all Shapes Host Black Holes (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (249 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-02-10 Messier 101 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
Chandra X-ray Telescope
IRAC
Visible Light
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NASA's Great Observatories continue Galileo's legacy with stunning images and breakthrough science from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
PIA11797:
NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate the International Year of Astronomy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (155.5 MB)     JPEG (6.529 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-11-10 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, NASA's Great Observatories -- Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory -- have produced a matched trio of images of the central region of our Milky Way.
PIA12348:
Great Observatories' Unique Views of the Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (141.8 MB)     JPEG (3.839 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-03-17 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
IRAS
MIPS
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These two data plots from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show a primitive supermassive black hole (top) compared to a typical one; usually, dust tori are missing and only gas disks are observed in primitive black holes.
PIA12965:
How to Spot a Primitive Black Hole
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.62 MB)     JPEG (323.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-03-17 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception illustrates one of the most primitive supermassive black holes known (central black dot) at the core of a young, star-rich galaxy.
PIA12966:
Prehistoric Black Hole (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (37.75 MB)     JPEG (1.255 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-06-01 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows a galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its core. The black hole is shooting out jets of radio waves.
PIA13168:
Backward Black Hole Shoots Powerful Jets (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (395.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-08-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This image of two tangled galaxies has been released by NASA's Great Observatories. The Antennae galaxies are shown in this composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA13316:
NASA's Great Observatories Witness a Galactic Spectacle
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.29 MB)     JPEG (755.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-09-09 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WISE Telescope
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Galaxy Messier 74, with its spiral arms seen face-on, is in the center of this image captured by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, while an asteroid tracks its way across the sky.
PIA13376:
A Spiral Galaxy is Visited by a Trojan War Hero
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.735 MB)     JPEG (201.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-10-12 Spitzer Space Telescope
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A giant star in a faraway galaxy recently ended its life with a dust-shrouded whimper instead of the more typical bang in this artist's concept based on data from Spitzer's Space Telescope.
PIA13478:
Giant Star Goes Supernova, Smothered by its own Dust (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.11 MB)     JPEG (702.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-12-15 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WISE Telescope
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To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the launch of NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Explorer, the mission team put together this image showing just a sample of the millions of galaxies that have been imaged by WISE during its survey of the entire sky.
PIA13450:
A Collage of Nearby Galaxies
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.693 MB)     JPEG (264.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-05-25 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WISE Telescope
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A colorful collection of galaxy specimens from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission showcases galaxies of several types, from elegant grand design spirals to more patchy flocculent spirals.
PIA14098:
The Galaxy Menagerie from WISE
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.88 MB)     JPEG (1.506 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-08-29 Mercury MESSENGER
MDIS - Wide Angle
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Black Holes in Caloris
PIA14803:
Black Holes in Caloris
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.046 MB)     JPEG (160.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-02-23 NuSTAR
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Inside an environmental enclosure at Vandenberg Air Force Base's processing facility in California, technicians complete the final steps in mating NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and its Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket.
PIA15267:
Final Steps in Mating NuSTAR to its Rocket
Full Resolution:     TIFF (17.94 MB)     JPEG (694.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-02-23 NuSTAR
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At Vandenberg Air Force Base's processing facility in California, the separation ring on the aft end of NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), at right, inches its way toward the third stage of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket.
PIA15268:
NuSTAR Inches Toward its Rocket
Full Resolution:     TIFF (17.96 MB)     JPEG (453.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-02 NuSTAR
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A spacecraft technician is performing closeout work inside the fairing that will be installed around NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) spacecraft in a processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
PIA15410:
Inside NuSTAR's Nose Cone
Full Resolution:     TIFF (19.12 MB)     JPEG (695.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-02 NuSTAR
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An Orbital Sciences technician completes final checks of NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, before the Pegasus payload fairing is secured around it.
PIA15411:
Wrapping NuSTAR in Its Rocket Nose Cone
Full Resolution:     TIFF (19.52 MB)     JPEG (688.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-16 Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's sharp view was used to look for gravitational arcs and rings which are produced when one galaxy acts as a lens to magnify and distort the appearance of another galaxy behind it.
PIA15418:
Quasar Lenses
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.677 MB)     JPEG (61.94 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-12 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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This artist's concept shows a 'feeding,' or active, supermassive black hole with a jet streaming outward at nearly the speed of light. Such active black holes are often found at the hearts of elliptical galaxies.
PIA15414:
Cosmic Jets Coming at You (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (40.5 MB)     JPEG (1.049 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-09 Herschel Space Observatory
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Herschel Space Observatory has shown that galaxies with the most powerful, active, supermassive black holes at their cores produce fewer stars than galaxies with less active black holes in this artist concept.
PIA15625:
Artist's Concept: Active Black Hole Squashes Star Formation
Full Resolution:     TIFF (48.6 MB)     JPEG (1.935 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-22 NuSTAR
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This artist's concept shows NASA's NuSTAR mission orbiting Earth. NuSTAR will hunt for hidden black holes and other exotic cosmic objects.
PIA15777:
NuSTAR Orbits Earth (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.768 MB)     JPEG (121.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, or M101, in the constellation of Ursa Major, combines data from four of NASA's space telescopes. The view shows that both young and old stars are evenly distributed along M101's tightly wound spiral arms.
PIA15630:
Pinwheel Galaxy Rainbow
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.87 MB)     JPEG (422.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-30 NuSTAR
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NASA's NuSTAR will be able to identify individual black holes making up the diffuse X-ray glow, also called the X-ray background. At bottom right is a simulated view of what NuSTAR will see.
PIA15632:
Bringing Black Holes Into Focus
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.674 MB)     JPEG (143 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-06-04 NuSTAR
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This photo shows the Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket with NASA's NuSTAR spacecraft after attachment to the L-1011 carrier aircraft known as 'Stargazer.'
PIA15633:
NuSTAR Hitches a Ride on the 'Stargazer'
Full Resolution:     TIFF (17.94 MB)     JPEG (635.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-06-19 Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3
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The galaxies pictured here have so much dust surrounding them that the brilliant light from their quasars cannot be seen in these images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
PIA15831:
The Homes of Quasars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.738 MB)     JPEG (64.82 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-08-29 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WISE Telescope
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With its all-sky infrared survey, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has identified millions of quasar candidates. Quasars are supermassive black holes with masses millions to billions times greater than our sun.
PIA15810:
A Sky Chock-Full of Black Holes
Full Resolution:     TIFF (87.79 MB)     JPEG (3.938 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-08-29 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WISE Telescope
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This zoomed-in view of a portion of the all-sky survey from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer shows a collection of quasar candidates (shown in yellow circles). Quasars are supermassive black holes feeding off gas and dust.
PIA15811:
Exposing Black Holes Disguised in Dust
Full Resolution:     TIFF (13.24 MB)     JPEG (734.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-08-29 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WISE Telescope
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This image zooms in on the region around the first 'hot DOG' (red object in magenta circle), discovered by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. Hot DOGs are hot dust-obscured galaxies.
PIA15813:
Extremely Bright and Extremely Rare
Full Resolution:     TIFF (87.79 MB)     JPEG (3.944 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-08-29 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WISE Telescope
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This image is a portion of the all-sky survey from NASA's WISE. It highlights the first of about 1,000 'hot DOGs' found by the mission (magenta circle). Hot DOGs are hot dust-obscured galaxies and are among the most powerful galaxies known.
PIA15814:
Homing in on 'Hot Dogs'
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.61 MB)     JPEG (758.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-08-29 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WISE Telescope
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This plot illustrates the new population of 'hot DOGs,' or hot dust-obscured objects, found by WISE. The purple band represents the range of brightness observed for the extremely dusty objects.
PIA15815:
Analyzing Hot DOG Galaxies
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12.53 MB)     JPEG (227.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-10-23 NuSTAR
NuSTAR
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These images, taken by NASA's black-hole hunter, NuSTAR, are the first, focused high-energy X-ray views of the area surrounding the supermassive black hole, called Sagittarius A*, at the center of our galaxy.
PIA16213:
First Look at Milky Way's Monster in High-Energy X-ray Light
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.08 MB)     JPEG (206.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-10-23 NuSTAR
NuSTAR
Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's NuSTAR has captured these first, focused views of the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy in high-energy X-ray light.
PIA16214:
Pointing X-ray Eyes at our Resident Supermassive Black Hole
Full Resolution:     TIFF (28.81 MB)     JPEG (2.077 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-12-13 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
Very Large Space Telescope (VLT)
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The spiral galaxy NGC 3627, located about 30 million light years from Earth as seen by four NASA telescopes; inset shows the central region, which contains a bright X-ray source that is likely powered by material falling onto a supermassive black hole.
PIA15806:
NGC 3627: Revealing Hidden Black Holes
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.89 MB)     JPEG (646 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-07 NuSTAR
NuSTAR
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This new view of spiral galaxy IC 342, also known as Caldwell 5, includes data from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. IC 342 lies 7 million light-years away in the Camelopardalis constellation.
PIA16605:
Blazing Black Holes Spotted in Spiral Beauty
Full Resolution:     TIFF (8.674 MB)     JPEG (421.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-27 NuSTAR
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This artist's concept illustrates a supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of our sun. Supermassive black holes are enormously dense objects buried at the hearts of galaxies.
PIA16695:
Black Holes: Monsters in Space (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (32.69 MB)     JPEG (591.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-27 NuSTAR
XMM-Newton
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Black holes are tremendous objects whose immense gravity can distort and twist space-time, the fabric that shapes our universe as this chart from NASA's NuSTAR and ESA's XMM-Newton telescope illustrates.
PIA16696:
How to Measure the Spin of a Black Hole (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.93 MB)     JPEG (347.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-27 NuSTAR
XMM-Newton
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Scientists measure the spin rates of supermassive black holes by spreading the X-ray light into different colors. The light comes from accretion disks that swirl around black holes, as shown in both of the artist's concepts.
PIA16697:
Two Models of Black Hole Spin (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.93 MB)     JPEG (379.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-27 NuSTAR
XMM-Newton
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NASA's NuSTAR, has helped to show that the spin rates of black holes can be measured conclusively. The solid lines show two theoretical models that explain low-energy X-ray emission seen previously from the spiral galaxy NGC 1365 by XMM-Newton.
PIA16870:
Two X-Ray Observatories are Better Than One
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.73 MB)     JPEG (419.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-09-05 NuSTAR
NuSTAR
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NASA's NuSTAR's serendipitous discovery in this field lies to the left of a galaxy, called IC751, at which the telescope originally intended to look.
PIA17440:
Black Holes Shine for NuSTAR
Full Resolution:     TIFF (17.29 MB)     JPEG (718.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-11-26 NuSTAR
NuSTAR
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Magenta spots in this image from NASA's NuSTAR show two black holes in the Circinus galaxy, located 13 million light-years from Earth in the Circinus constellation.
PIA17560:
Black Holes of the Circinus Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.683 MB)     JPEG (599.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-11-26 NuSTAR
NuSTAR
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The magenta spots in this image from NASA's NuSTAR show two black holes in the spiral galaxy called NGC 1313, or the Topsy Turvy galaxy, located about 13 million light-years away in the Reticulum constellation.
PIA17561:
Topsy Turvy Black Holes
Full Resolution:     TIFF (5.882 MB)     JPEG (137.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-12-03 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, helped lead astronomers to what appears to be a new example of a dancing black hole duo.
PIA17562:
Two Black Holes on Way to Becoming One (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.766 MB)     JPEG (108.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-01-09 NuSTAR
NuSTAR
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A range of supermassive black holes lights up this new image from NASA's NuSTAR. All of the dots are active black holes tucked inside the hearts of galaxies, with colors representing different energies of X-ray light.
PIA17567:
Different Flavors of Black Holes
Full Resolution:     TIFF (27.73 MB)     JPEG (545.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-03-26 Spitzer Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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The galaxy NGC 4395 is shown here in infrared light, captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This dwarf galaxy is relatively small in comparison with our Milky Way galaxy, which is nearly 1,000 times more massive.
PIA17997:
Bulgeless Galaxy Hides Black Hole
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.473 MB)     JPEG (70.62 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-05-22 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
WISE Telescope
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This artistically enhanced image from NASA's WISE data shows galaxies clumped together in the Fornax cluster, located 60 million light-years from Earth.
PIA18012:
The Clumping Behavior of Galaxies
Full Resolution:     TIFF (20.28 MB)     JPEG (1.191 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-05-22 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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This infographic explains a popular theory of active supermassive black holes, referred to as the unified model -- and how new data from NASA's WISE, is at conflict with the model.
PIA18013:
Unified, or 'Doughnut,' Theory of Active, Black Holes
Full Resolution:     TIFF (42.09 MB)     JPEG (1.276 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-10-08 NuSTAR
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The bulk of a galaxy called Messier 82 (M82), or the 'Cigar galaxy,' is seen in visible-light data captured by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's 2.1-meter telescope at Kitt Peak in Arizona.
PIA18841:
NuSTAR Finds a Pulse in Cigar Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.123 MB)     JPEG (97.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-10-08 NuSTAR
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This chart illustrates relative masses of super-dense cosmic objects, ranging from white dwarfs to supermassive black holes encased in the cores of most galaxies. The first three 'dead' stars (left) all form when stars more massive than our sun explode.
PIA18842:
Mass Chart for Dead Stars and Black Holes
Full Resolution:     TIFF (27.01 MB)     JPEG (345.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-10-08 NuSTAR
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NuSTAR has added a new twist to the mystery of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) by showing that one of the ULXs in M82, called M82 X-2, is not a black hole but a pulsar.
PIA18844:
Ultraluminous X-ray Sources in M82 Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.322 MB)     JPEG (60.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-11-06 CIBER
Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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Our sky is filled with a diffuse background glow, known as the cosmic infrared background. Much of the light is from galaxies we know about, but previous Spitzer measurements have shown an extra component of unknown origin.
PIA18851:
First Stars or Stray Stars? A Cosmic Infrared Mystery
Full Resolution:     TIFF (24.01 MB)     JPEG (840.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-01-08 Hubble Space Telescope
NuSTAR
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The real monster black hole is revealed in this image from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array of colliding galaxies Arp 299.
PIA18907:
Tale of Two Black Holes
Full Resolution:     TIFF (81.02 MB)     JPEG (3.67 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-02-19 NuSTAR
XMM-Newton
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This plot of data from two space telescopes, NASA's NuSTAR and ESA's XMM-Newton determines for the first time the shape of ultra-fast winds from supermassive black holes, or quasars.
PIA18918:
The Answer is Blowing in the Black Hole Wind
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.61 MB)     JPEG (407.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-02-19 NuSTAR
XMM-Newton
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Supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies blast radiation and ultra-fast winds outward, as illustrated in this artist's conception based on NASA's NuSTAR and ESA's XMM-Newton telescopes.
PIA18919:
How Black Hole Winds Blow (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.74 MB)     JPEG (1.644 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-07-06 NuSTAR
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A montage of images showing an artist's concept of NuSTAR (top); a color image of one of the galaxies targeted by NuSTAR (lower left); and artist's concept of a hidden black hole.
PIA19348:
NuSTAR Seeks Hidden Black Holes
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.272 MB)     JPEG (204.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-07-08 Sol (our sun) NuSTAR
NuSTAR
SDO
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Flaring, active regions of our sun are highlighted in this image combining observations from several telescopes. During the observations, microflares went off, which are smaller versions of the larger flares that also erupt from the sun's surface.
PIA19821:
NuSTAR Stares at the Sun
Full Resolution:     TIFF (50.35 MB)     JPEG (797.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-10-27 NuSTAR
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In 2014, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, and Swift space telescopes witnessed an X-flare from the supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy called Markarian 335. Artist Concept.
PIA20051:
Shifting Coronas Around Black Holes (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.9 MB)     JPEG (2.244 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-12-03 LISA Pathfinder
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This artist's concept shows ESA's LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, which launched on Dec. 3, 2015, from Kourou, French Guiana, will help pave the way for a mission to detect gravitational waves.
PIA20196:
LISA Pathfinder Spacecraft (Artist's Concept)
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Add Image to Favorite List 2015-12-17 Hubble Space Telescope
NuSTAR
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Galaxy NGC 1068 can be seen in close-up in this view from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. NuSTAR data revealed that the torus of gas and dust surrounding the black hole, also referred to as a doughnut, is more clumpy than previously thought.
PIA20058:
Hidden Lair at the Heart of Galaxy NGC 1068
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Add Image to Favorite List 2016-07-28 Chandra X-ray Observatory
NuSTAR
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The blue dots in this field of galaxies, known as the COSMOS field, show galaxies that contain supermassive black holes emitting high-energy X-rays, as detected by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Array, or NuSTAR.
PIA20865:
A Black Hole 'Choir'
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Add Image to Favorite List 2019-02-20 NuSTAR
NuSTAR
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Sources of high-energy X-ray light captured by NASA's NuSTAR mission are overlaid on an image of the Whirlpool galaxy and its companion galaxy, M51b, taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
PIA23005:
A Hard X-ray Look at M51
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Add Image to Favorite List 2019-04-25 Messier 87 Spitzer Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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The galaxy M87, imaged here by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, is home to a supermassive black hole that spews two jets of material out into space at nearly the speed of light.
PIA23122:
Spitzer Captures Messier 87
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Add Image to Favorite List 2019-12-13 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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Peering more than 10 billion light-years into the distance, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has found tens of millions of actively feeding supermassive lack holes across the full sky.
PIA23588:
Millions of Giant Black Holes
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Add Image to Favorite List 2020-01-08 Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3
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Each snapshot shows four distorted images of a background quasar, surrounding the core of a massive foreground galaxy. The gravity of the foreground galaxy magnifies the quasar, an effect called gravitational lensing.
PIA23410:
Quasars' Multiple Images Shed Light on Tiny Dark Matter Clumps
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Add Image to Favorite List 2020-04-28 Spitzer Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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This animation shows two massive black holes in the OJ 287 galaxy.
PIA23687:
Animation of Black Hole Disk Flare in OJ 287
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Add Image to Favorite List 2020-10-19 Earth Terra
ASTER
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NASA's Terra spacecraft shows three super-sensitive gravitational wave-detection systems in America and Europe. The two American LIGO systems are located near Livingston, LA and near Hanford, WA. The European VIRGO system is located near Pisa, Italy.
PIA24129:
Gravity Wave Detectors
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