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List		 Addition DateSort Ascending Target Mission Instrument Size
Add Image to Favorite List 2025-05-01 Sky SPHEREx
 Spectro-Photometer
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Infrared image showing a dense field of teal stars with faint, cloudy regions of interstellar dust, captured by NASA's SPHEREx mission.
PIA26352:
SPHEREx's Dust Cloud Reveal
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.221 MB)     JPEG (428.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2025-05-01 Sky SPHEREx
 Spectro-Photometer
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This video shows SPHEREx's field of view as it scans across one section of sky inside the Large Magellanic Cloud, with rainbow colors representing the infrared wavelengths the telescope's detectors see.
PIA26351:
SPHEREx Scans the Sky
Full Resolution:     TIFF (934.8 kB)     JPEG (63.32 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2024-05-09 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This image from NASA's retired Spitzer Space Telescope highlights the stars and dust clouds in the Andromeda galaxy.
PIA26276:
The Infrared Face of the Andromeda Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (185.7 MB)     JPEG (11.39 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2022-06-16 Herschel Space Observatory
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The Small Magellanic Cloud is a satellite of the Milky Way, containing about 3 billion stars. This far-infrared and radio view of it shows the cool (green) and warm (blue) dust, as well as the hydrogen gas (red).
PIA25164:
Small Magellanic Cloud Imaged by Herschel, Planck, IRAS, COBE
Full Resolution:     TIFF (54.26 MB)     JPEG (1.546 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2022-06-16 Herschel Space Observatory
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The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a satellite of the Milky Way, containing about 30 billion stars.
PIA25162:
Large Magellanic Cloud Imaged by Herschel, Planck, IRAS, COBE
Full Resolution:     TIFF (291.7 MB)     JPEG (6.089 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2021-10-25 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope imaged this cloud of gas and dust. The colors represent different wavelengths of infrared light and can reveal such features as places where radiation from stars had heated the surrounding material.
PIA24579:
Godzilla Nebula Imaged by Spitzer
Full Resolution:     TIFF (37.65 MB)     JPEG (2.228 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2021-08-31 NEOWISE
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The dark spot in the bottom left corner of the image is a brown dwarf, nicknamed The Accident, which was discovered by citizen scientist Dan Caselden using data from NASA's NEOWISE.
PIA24578:
An Accidental Discovery
Full Resolution:     TIFF (256.6 kB)     JPEG (15.79 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2021-08-17 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Shown here are the Eagle, Omega, Triffid, and Lagoon Nebulae, imaged by NASA's infrared Spitzer Space Telescope. These nebulae are part of a structure within the Milky Way's Sagittarius Arm that is poking out from the arm at a dramatic angle.
PIA24577:
Four Famous Nebulae
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.9 MB)     JPEG (2.529 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2021-08-17 4800x2700x3
A contingent of stars and star-forming clouds was found jutting out from the Milky Way's Sagittarius Arm. The inset shows the size of the structure and distance from the Sun.
PIA24576:
A Break in the Milky Way's Sagittarius Arm
Full Resolution:     TIFF (20.62 MB)     JPEG (897.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2021-07-09 NuSTAR
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The cosmic object SS 433 contains a bright source of X-ray light surrounded by two hemispheres of hot gas. SS 433 tilts periodically, causing one X-ray beam to point toward Earth.
PIA24574:
The Changing X-ray Brightness of SS 433 (Illustration)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.821 MB)     JPEG (198 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2021-04-21 Milky Way 3840x2160x3
Images of the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are overlaid on a map of the surrounding galactic halo. The smaller structure is a wake created by the LMC's motion through this region.
PIA24571:
Star Map of the Milky Way's Outer Halo
Full Resolution:     TIFF (16.93 MB)     JPEG (1.124 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2020-08-25 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This image from NASA's Spitzer Space telescope shows the star-forming nebula W51, one of the largest star factories in the Milky Way galaxy.
PIA23865:
Spitzer Image of Star Factory W51
Full Resolution:     TIFF (6.752 MB)     JPEG (432.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2019-09-30 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a cloud of gas and dust full of bubbles, which are inflated by wind and radiation from massive young stars.
PIA23402:
Spitzer Spots Bubbles and Bow Shocks
Full Resolution:     TIFF (31.7 MB)     JPEG (1.693 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2019-07-31 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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This image by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows Galaxy NGC 5866, oriented almost exactly edge-on, yielding most of its structural features invisible.
PIA23129:
NASA's Spitzer Spots a Perfectly Sideways Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.072 MB)     JPEG (59.86 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2018-10-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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The Cat's Paw Nebula, imaged here by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, shows a dark filament running through the middle, composed of dense gas and dust.
PIA22567:
Cat's Paw Image 2
Full Resolution:     TIFF (27.74 MB)     JPEG (1.843 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2018-10-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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The Cat's Paw Nebula, imaged here by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, is a star-forming region that lies inside the Milky Way Galaxy.
PIA22568:
Cat's Paw Image 1
Full Resolution:     TIFF (27.74 MB)     JPEG (1.447 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2018-09-25 Earth CubeSat
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This image shows the size of NASA's tiny weather satellite, Raincube, in comparison to the International Space Station. RainCube was deployed into low-Earth orbit from the ISS in July, 2018.
PIA22653:
Mini Mission RainCube is Sent into Earth Orbit
Full Resolution:     TIFF (330.8 kB)     JPEG (210.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2018-01-31 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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This image of distant interacting galaxies, known collectively as Arp 142, bears an uncanny resemblance to a penguin guarding an egg. Data from NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have been combined to show these dramatic galaxies.
PIA22092:
Arp 142: The Penguin and the Egg
Full Resolution:     TIFF (6.359 MB)     JPEG (144.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2018-01-11 Hubble Space Telescope
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows the farthest galaxy yet seen in an image that has been stretched and amplified by a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
PIA22079:
NASA's Hubble Spots Embryonic Galaxy SPT0615-JD
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.083 MB)     JPEG (107.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2017-03-23 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
NuSTAR
 GALEX Telescope
NuSTAR
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NASA's NuSTAR has identified a candidate pulsar in Andromeda, the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. This likely pulsar is brighter at high energies than the Andromeda galaxy's entire black hole population.
PIA20970:
Pulsar Candidate in Andromeda
Full Resolution:     TIFF (3.973 MB)     JPEG (291.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2017-01-05 4096x2560x3
This graphic shows all the cosmic light sources in the sky that are included in the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), an online repository containing information on over 100 million galaxies.
PIA21084:
NED Catalog Sky Source Map
Full Resolution:     TIFF (14.31 MB)     JPEG (1.889 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-09-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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These nebulae seen by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, display two regions of star formation that are hidden behind a haze of dust when viewed in visible light, known officially y their catalog numbers, IRAS 19340+2016 and IRAS19343+2026.
PIA20917:
Enterprising Nebulae
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.622 MB)     JPEG (457.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-08-25 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer begins its 'Beyond' mission phase on Oct. 1, 2016. Spitzer is depicted in the orientation it assumes to establish communications with ground stations.
PIA20913:
Spitzer Beyond (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (17.43 MB)     JPEG (442.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-07-27 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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This artist's concept shows an unusual celestial object called CX330 was first detected as a source of X-ray light in 2009. It has been launching 'jets' of material into the gas and dust around it.
PIA20700:
The Loneliest Young Star (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (22.69 MB)     JPEG (373.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-07-19 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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Researchers used data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission to highlight the X-shaped structure in the bulge of the Milky Way.
PIA20699:
X-Shaped Bulge in the Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (46.74 MB)     JPEG (6.544 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-04-14 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)
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The spider part of 'The Spider and the Fly' nebulae, IC 417 abounds in star formation, as seen in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS).
PIA20357:
The Spider Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (24.67 MB)     JPEG (1.305 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-04-07 Kepler
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In a global experiment in exoplanet observation, the K2 mission and Earth-based observatories on six continents will survey millions of stars toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
PIA20070:
Map of Exoplanet Search Areas
Full Resolution:     TIFF (10.39 MB)     JPEG (264.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-03-17 SDSS
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In archived NASA data, researchers have discovered 'super spiral' galaxies that dwarf our own spiral galaxy, the Milky Way, and compete in size and brightness with the largest galaxies in the universe.
PIA20064:
Gargantuan 'Super Spiral' Galaxies Loom Large in the Cosmos
Full Resolution:     TIFF (5.495 MB)     JPEG (152.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-01-28 Hubble Space Telescope
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This artist's diagram shows the Smith Cloud as it arcs out of the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, then returning like a boomerang. Hubble's Telescope measurements that it came out of a region near the edge of the galaxy's disk of stars 70 million years ago
PIA16024:
Monstrous Cloud Boomerangs Back to Our Galaxy (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.49 MB)     JPEG (601.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-01-21 Hubble Space Telescope
 Advanced Camera for Surveys
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Resembling an opulent diamond tapestry, this image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows a glittering star cluster that contains a collection of some of the brightest stars seen in our Milky Way galaxy called Trumpler 14.
PIA20468:
Hubble Unveils a Tapestry of Dazzling Diamond-Like Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (45.79 MB)     JPEG (1.43 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-01-05 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
NuSTAR
 GALEX Telescope
NuSTAR
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These images from NASA's GALEX and NuSTAR is of Andromeda, a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way but larger in size. It lies 2.5 million light-years away in the Andromeda constellation.
PIA20061:
Andromeda in High-Energy X-rays
Full Resolution:     TIFF (41.67 MB)     JPEG (2.214 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-12-17 Hubble Space Telescope
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In the center of this image from the Hubble Space Telescope, partially obscured by a dark cloud of dust, a newborn star shoots twin jets out into space as a sort of birth announcement to the universe.
PIA16022:
Hubble Sees the Force Awakening in a Newborn Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (3.517 MB)     JPEG (85.05 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-12-03 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
 WFC3
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This is view from ESA's Hubble Space Telescope of a very massive cluster of galaxies, MACS J0416.1-2403, located roughly 4 billion light-years away and weighing as much as a million billion suns.
PIA20054:
Faint Compact Galaxy in the Early Universe
Full Resolution:     TIFF (53.34 MB)     JPEG (2.758 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-06-03 Milky Way Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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Astronomers using data from NASA's WISE are helping to trace the shape of our Milky Way galaxy's spiral arms. Here, WISE data revealed clusters of young stars shrouded in dust, called embedded clusters, which are known to reside in spiral arms.
PIA19341:
Tracing the Arms of our Milky Way Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (5.135 MB)     JPEG (145.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-05-28 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
SPIRE
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This image from NASA's Herschel space observatory shows a filament called G49, which contains 80,000 suns' worth of mass. Long and flimsy threads emerge from a twisted mix of material, taking on complex shapes.
PIA19340:
Herschel's View of G49 Filament
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.153 MB)     JPEG (95.89 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-05-21 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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This artist's concept of the galaxy named WISE J224607.57-052635.0, is erupting with light equal to more than 300 trillion sunset; it was discovered by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.
PIA19339:
Dusty 'Sunrise' at Core of Galaxy (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (27.01 MB)     JPEG (447.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-04-29 NuSTAR
 NuSTAR
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This picture from NASA's NuSTAR is one of the most detailed ever taken of the center of our galaxy in high-energy X-rays. The X-ray light, normally invisible to our eyes, has been assigned the color magenta.
PIA19334:
Extra X-rays at the Hub of Our Milky Way Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (13.24 MB)     JPEG (864.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-04-14 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This plot shows data obtained from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment telescope located in Chile, during a 'microlensing' event.
PIA19331:
Time Delay in Microlensing Event
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.26 MB)     JPEG (502.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-03-31 Planck
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This map of the entire sky was captured by the European Space Agency's Planck mission. The band running through the middle corresponds to dust in our Milky Way galaxy.
PIA19330:
Astronomers Dig Up Treasure Trove of Galaxy Clusters
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.322 MB)     JPEG (141.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-02-05 Milky Way Planck
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Our Milky Way galaxy is ablaze with dust in this new all-sky map from Planck, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA contributions. The towers of fiery colors are actually dust in the galaxy and beyond that has been polarized.
PIA18915:
Polarized Dust Lights Up Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (271.6 MB)     JPEG (6.333 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-02-05 Milky Way Planck
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A new, dynamic portrait of our Milky Way galaxy shows a frenzy of gas, charged particles and dust as seen by the European Space Agency's Planck mission.
PIA18913:
Milky Way Untangled
Full Resolution:     TIFF (108 MB)     JPEG (2.399 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-02-05 Milky Way Planck
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This composite image comes from the ESA's Planck shows a festive portrait of our Milky Way galaxy shows a mishmash of gas, charged particles and several types of dust.
PIA18912:
A Milky Way 'Mixer' Amongst the Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (271.6 MB)     JPEG (4.538 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-01-30 Planck
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The color scale in this image from the Planck mission represents the emission from dust, a minor but crucial component that pervades our Milky Way galaxy. The texture indicates the orientation of the galactic magnetic field.
PIA18911:
Planck's View of BICEP2/Keck Array Field
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.322 MB)     JPEG (299.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-01-27 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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'Yellow balls' -- which are several hundred to thousands times the size of our solar system -- are pictured here in the center of this image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA18908:
Finding 'Yellowballs' in our Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.2 MB)     JPEG (413.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-11-06 CIBER
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This artist's concept shows a view of a number of galaxies sitting in huge halos of stars. The stars are too distant to be seen individually and instead are seen as a diffuse glow, colored yellow in this illustration.
PIA18852:
Stray Stars Scattered in Space (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (11.06 MB)     JPEG (100.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-11-06 CIBER
 CIBER
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These images from the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment, or CIBER, show large patches of the sky at two different infrared wavelengths (1.1 microns and 1.6 microns) after all known galaxies have been subtracted out and the images smoothed.
PIA18849:
Matching Patterns of Light
Full Resolution:     TIFF (8.96 MB)     JPEG (146.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-09-19 Hubble Space Telescope
 WFPC2
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This picture, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's WFPC2, shows a galaxy known as NGC 6872 in the constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). Its unusual shape is caused by its interactions with the smaller galaxy that can be seen just above NGC 6872.
PIA17808:
Hubble Feathers the Peacock
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.635 MB)     JPEG (101.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-09-16 Chandra X-ray Observatory
NuSTAR
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The blue dot in this image marks the spot of an energetic pulsar -- the magnetic, spinning core of star that blew up in a supernova explosion. NASA's NuSTAR discovered the pulsar by identifying its telltale pulse.
PIA18836:
Powerful, Pulsating Core of Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (5.882 MB)     JPEG (319 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-07-02 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
Very Large Array (VLA)
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Anomalous arms are seen in this composite image of NGC 4258 from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observator, NSF's Karl Jansky Very Large Array, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA18461:
Galactic Pyrotechnics on Display
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.38 MB)     JPEG (1.396 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-06-04 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows N103B -- all that remains from a supernova that exploded a millennium ago in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy 160,000 light-years away from our own Milky Way.
PIA18009:
Dissecting Dust from Detonation of Dead Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (3.359 MB)     JPEG (103.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-05-06 Planck
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The magnetic field of our Milky Way galaxy as seen by ESA's Planck satellite. This image was compiled from the first all-sky observations of polarized light emitted by interstellar dust in the Milky Way.
PIA18048:
Magnetic Map of Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.648 MB)     JPEG (127.3 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 2014-03-20 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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This mosaic reveals a panorama of the Milky Way from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This picture covers only about three percent of the sky, but includes more than half of the galaxy's stars and the majority of its star formation activity.
PIA17996:
GLIMPSE the Galaxy All the Way Around
Full Resolution:     TIFF (375.9 MB)     JPEG (9.296 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-12-19 NEOWISE
 NEOWISE Telescope
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This is one of the first images captured by the revived NEOWISE mission, after more than two years of hibernation. It shows a patch of sky in the constellation Canes Venatici, or the Hunting Dogs.
PIA17810:
NEOWISE Opens its Eyes
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12.39 MB)     JPEG (388 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-12-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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The collection of red dots seen here show one of several very distant galaxy clusters discovered by combining ground-based optical data from the NOAO's Kitt Peak National Observatory with infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA17565:
Galactic Metropolis
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12 MB)     JPEG (435.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-12-12 Herschel Space Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope
 PACS
WFPC2
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This image shows a composite view of the Crab nebula, an iconic supernova remnant in our Milky Way galaxy, as viewed by the Herschel Space Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.
PIA17563:
Crab Nebula, as Seen by Herschel and Hubble
Full Resolution:     TIFF (44.81 MB)     JPEG (1.205 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-10-17 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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The center of the Milky Way galaxy imaged by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is displayed on a quarter-of-a-billion-pixel, high-definition 23-foot-wide (7-meter) LCD science visualization screen at NASA's Ames Research Center.
PIA17446:
Big Data on the Big Screen
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.099 MB)     JPEG (109.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-07-03 Voyager
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This artist's concept shows NASA's Voyager spacecraft against a field of stars in the darkness of space as they travel farther away from Earth, on a journey to interstellar space, and will eventually circle around the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
PIA17036:
Voyager the Explorer
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.441 MB)     JPEG (71.28 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-06-28 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 GALEX Telescope
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This image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows NGC 6744, one of the galaxies most similar to our Milky Way in the local universe.
PIA17247:
Big Brother to the Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (8.171 MB)     JPEG (473.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-06-28 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 GALEX Telescope
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This image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows NGC 4565, one of the nearest and brightest galaxies not included in the famous list by 18th-century comet hunter Charles Messier.
PIA17246:
Galaxy's Pencil-Thin Profile
Full Resolution:     TIFF (6.753 MB)     JPEG (377.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-06-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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There are nearly 200 galaxies within the marked circles in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. These are part of the Perseus-Pisces supercluster of galaxies located 250 million light-years away.
PIA17241:
Galaxies in Hiding
Full Resolution:     TIFF (130.7 MB)     JPEG (6.917 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-06-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 IRAC
WISE Telescope
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In what may look to some like an undersea image of coral and seaweed, a new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is showing the birth and death of stars.
PIA17019:
Life and Death Intermingled
Full Resolution:     TIFF (189.1 MB)     JPEG (10.27 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-06-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 IRAC
WISE Telescope
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Dozens of newborn stars sprouting jets from their dusty cocoons have been spotted in images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This view shows a portion of sky near Canis Major.
PIA17018:
Stars Shoot Jets in Cosmic Playground
Full Resolution:     TIFF (27.01 MB)     JPEG (1.76 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-06-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a striking example of what is called a hierarchical bubble structure, in which one giant bubble, carved into the dust of space by massive stars, has triggered the formation of smaller bubbles.
PIA17017:
Bubbles Within Bubbles
Full Resolution:     TIFF (32.68 MB)     JPEG (1.799 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-05-22 Herschel Space Observatory
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ESA's Herschel Space Observatory first spotted the colliding duo in images taken with longer-wavelength infrared light (left) with a close-up view at right, with merging galaxies circled.
PIA17013:
The Making of a Giant Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (10.8 MB)     JPEG (211.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-05-07 Herschel Space Observatory
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This artist's concept illustrates the frenzied activity at the core of our Milky Way galaxy. The galactic center hosts a supermassive black hole in the region known as Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*, with a mass of about four million times that of our sun.
PIA17009:
Hustle and Bustle at Center of Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.17 MB)     JPEG (500.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-23 Hubble Space Telescope
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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The tiny red spot in this image is one of the most efficient star-making galaxies ever observed, converting gas into stars at the maximum possible rate. The galaxy is shown here is from NASA's WISE, which first spotted the rare galaxy in infrared light.
PIA17005:
Galaxy Packs Big Star-Making Punch
Full Resolution:     TIFF (34.93 MB)     JPEG (1.316 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-19 Hubble Space Telescope
 WFC3
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Backlit wisps along the Horsehead Nebula's upper ridge are being illuminated by Sigma Orionis, a young five-star system just off the top of this image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
PIA16008:
Hubble Sees a Horsehead of a Different Color
Full Resolution:     TIFF (18.43 MB)     JPEG (700.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-17 Herschel Space Observatory
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This artist's impression shows the 'starburst' galaxy HFLS3. The galaxy appears as little more than a faint, red smudge in images from the Herschel space observatory.
PIA16887:
Artist's Impression of Starburst Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.917 MB)     JPEG (211.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-03 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
 Chandra X-ray Telescope
IRAC
Visible-Light
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The tip of the 'wing' of the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy is dazzling in this new view from NASA's Great Observatories. The SMC, is a small galaxy about 200,000 light-years way that orbits our own Milky Way spiral galaxy.
PIA16884:
Taken Under the 'Wing' of the Small Magellanic Cloud
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.89 MB)     JPEG (1.685 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-29 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
SPIRE
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W3 is an enormous stellar nursery about 6,200 light-years away in the Perseus Arm, one of the Milky Way galaxy's main spiral arms as seen by ESA's Herschel space observatory.
PIA16883:
Churning Out Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (6.456 MB)     JPEG (182.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-05 Orion Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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The Orion nebula is featured in this sweeping image from NASA's WISE. The constellation of Orion is prominent in the evening sky throughout the world from about December through April of each year.
PIA16684:
The Cosmic Hearth
Full Resolution:     TIFF (87.54 MB)     JPEG (1.346 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-28 M31 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
SPIRE
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In this new view of the Andromeda, also known as M31, galaxy from the Herschel space observatory, cool lanes of forming stars are revealed in the finest detail yet. M31 is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way at a distance of 2.5 million light-ye
PIA16682:
Cool Andromeda
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.76 MB)     JPEG (510 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-10 ESO Very Large Telescope
Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
Spitzer Space Telescope
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This composite of the giant barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 is 522,000 light-years across, making it about five times the size of the Milky Way.
PIA16613:
Dwarf Galaxy Spotted
Full Resolution:     TIFF (42.2 MB)     JPEG (752.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-11-15 Hubble Space Telescope
 Advanced Camera for Surveys
WFC3
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In this Hubble observation, astronomers used the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0647+7015 as the giant cosmic telescope. The bright yellow galaxies near the center of the image are cluster members.
PIA16465:
Astronomers Spot Most Distant Known Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.198 MB)     JPEG (305.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-11-07 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Isaac Newton Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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The Milky Way and other galaxies in the universe harbor many young star clusters and associations that each contain hundreds to thousands of hot, massive, young stars known as O and B stars.
PIA16438:
A Nearby Stellar Cradle
Full Resolution:     TIFF (20.2 MB)     JPEG (1.678 MB)
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 2012-10-23 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 2012-10-03 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This graph illustrates the Cepheid period-luminosity relationship, used to calculate the size, age and expansion rate of the universe. The data shown are from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope which has made the most precise measurements yet.
PIA15819:
Cepheids as Cosmology Tools
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.61 MB)     JPEG (453.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-10-03 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have greatly improved the cosmic distance ladder used to measure the expansion rate of the universe, its size and age. This artist's concept symbolically shows a series of stars that have known distances.
PIA15818:
Climbing the Cosmic Distance Ladder (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (33.35 MB)     JPEG (769.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-08-29 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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NASA's WISE has identified about 1,000 extremely obscured objects over the sky, as marked by the magenta symbols. These hot dust-obscured galaxies, or 'hot DOGs,' are turning out to be among the most luminous.
PIA15812:
Galaxies Burn Bright Like High-Wattage 'Light Bulbs'
Full Resolution:     TIFF (68.28 MB)     JPEG (3.974 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-08-15 Messier 100 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
MIPS
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This infrared image, from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, of M100 is a classic example of a grand design spiral galaxy, with prominent and well-defined spiral arms winding from the hot center, out to the cooler edges of the galaxy.
PIA15910:
The Swirling Arms of the M100 Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.503 MB)     JPEG (150.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-08-15 Messier 100 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
MIPS
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The galaxy Messier 100, or M100, shows its swirling spiral in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The arcing spiral arms of dust and gas that harbor star forming regions glow vividly when seen in the infrared.
PIA15909:
Hot and Cold in the M100 Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.12 MB)     JPEG (148.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-06-28 NuSTAR
 NuSTAR
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NASA's NuSTAR has taken its first snapshots of the highest energy X-rays in the cosmos, the same kind used by doctors to take pictures of your bones. NuSTAR chose a black hole in the constellation Cygnus as its first target due to its brightness.
PIA15804:
NuSTAR's First View of High-Energy X-ray Universe
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.198 MB)     JPEG (312.9 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 2012-05-23 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 2012-05-17 Herschel Space Observatory
 SPIRE
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ESA's Herschel Space Observatory has discovered a giant, galaxy-packed filament ablaze with billions of new stars. The filament connects two clusters of galaxies that, along with a third cluster, will smash together in several billion years.
PIA15659:
A Star-Bursting Filament
Full Resolution:     TIFF (80.29 MB)     JPEG (2.074 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-16 M31 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
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Hot stars burn brightly in this new image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, showing the ultraviolet side of a familiar face. Approximately 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda galaxy, or M31, is our Milky Way's largest galactic neighbor.
PIA15416:
Andromeda
Full Resolution:     TIFF (197.4 MB)     JPEG (6.751 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-17 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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This composite of 30 Doradus, the Tarantula Nebula, contains data from Chandra (blue), Hubble (green), and Spitzer (red). Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Tarantula Nebula is one of the largest star-forming regions close to the Milky Way.
PIA14415:
A New View of the Tarantula Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (31.1 MB)     JPEG (1.774 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-14 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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This mosaic of images covering the entire sky was observed by NASA's WISE telescope and is part of its All-Sky Data Release. The projection used in this image of the sky is called an 'equirectangular.'
PIA15482:
Mapping the Infrared Universe: The Entire WISE Sky -- Rectangular Format
Full Resolution:     TIFF (150 MB)     JPEG (7.365 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-14 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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This is a mosaic of the images covering the entire sky as observed by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), part of its All-Sky Data Release. In this mosaic, the Milky Way Galaxy runs horizontally across the map.
PIA15481:
Mapping the Infrared Universe: The Entire WISE Sky
Full Resolution:     TIFF (150.9 MB)     JPEG (6.828 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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This nebula, which is in the constellation of Scutum, has no common name since it is hidden behind dust clouds. It takes an infrared telescope like NASA's Spitzer to see through this dark veil and reveal this spectacular hidden nebula.
PIA15413:
An Audience Favorite Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (964.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
 GLIMPSE
MIPSGAL
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A team of volunteers from the general public has pored over observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and discovered more than 5,000 'bubbles' in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy.
PIA15412:
Finding Bubbles in the Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (16.17 MB)     JPEG (546.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-02-13 Planck
 Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
Planck LFI-HFI
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This all-sky image shows the distribution of the galactic haze seen by ESA's Planck mission at microwave frequencies superimposed over the high-energy sky, as seen by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
PIA15229:
Galactic Haze seen by Planck and Galactic 'Bubbles' seen by Fermi
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.363 MB)     JPEG (113.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-02-13 Planck
 Planck LFI-HFI
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This all-sky image shows the spatial distribution over the whole sky of the galactic haze at 30 and 44 GHz, extracted from the Planck observations.
PIA15228:
The Mysterious Galactic Haze seen by Planck
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.363 MB)     JPEG (95.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-02-13 Planck
 High Frequency Instrument
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This all-sky image shows the distribution of carbon monoxide (CO), a molecule used by astronomers to trace molecular clouds across the sky, as seen by Planck.
PIA15227:
All-sky Image of Molecular Gas and Three Molecular Cloud Complexes seen by Planck
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.792 MB)     JPEG (78.38 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-01-10 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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This enormous section of the Milky Way galaxy is a mosaic of images from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. The constellations Cassiopeia and Cepheus are featured in this 1,000-square degree expanse.
PIA15256:
A Royal Celebration
Full Resolution:     TIFF (199.3 MB)     JPEG (16.67 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-01-10 Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
SPIRE
PACS
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In combined data from ESA's Herschel and NASA's Spitzer telescopes, irregular distribution of dust in the Small Magellanic Cloud becomes clear. A stream of dust extends to left, known as the galaxy's 'wing,' and a bar of star formation appears to right.
PIA15255:
A Dwarf Galaxy's Star Bar and Dusty Wing
Full Resolution:     TIFF (150 MB)     JPEG (6.56 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-12-22 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission presents the 'Wreath nebula.' The nebula's official name is Barnard 3, or IRAS Ring G159.6-18.5. Regions similar to this nebula are found near the band of the Milky Way galaxy in the night sky.
PIA15252:
A Cosmic Wreath
Full Resolution:     TIFF (61.34 MB)     JPEG (892.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-12-12 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the nebula nicknamed 'the Dragonfish.' This turbulent region, jam-packed with stars, is home to some of the most luminous massive stars in our Milky Way galaxy.
PIA14885:
Dragonfish Coming At You in Infrared
Full Resolution:     TIFF (125.4 MB)     JPEG (8.273 MB)
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