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List		 Addition Date TargetSort Descending Mission Instrument Size
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-22 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
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Wispy tendrils of hot dust and gas glow brightly in this ultraviolet image of the Cygnus Loop nebula, taken by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The nebula lies about 1,500 light-years away.
PIA15415:
Cygnus Loop Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (108 MB)     JPEG (5.259 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-29 SOFIA
 FORCAST
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Researchers using NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) have captured infrared images of the last exhalations of a dying sun-like star. This image is of the planetary Nebula M2-9.
PIA15420:
NASA's SOFIA Captures Images of the Planetary Nebula M2-9
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.175 MB)     JPEG (78.26 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-03 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
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Time is running out for the galaxy NGC 3801, seen in this composite image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and other instruments combining light from across the spectrum, ranging from ultraviolet to radio.
PIA15419:
The Beginning of the End of Star Formation
Full Resolution:     TIFF (3.835 MB)     JPEG (129 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-04 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
SPIRE
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This parallelogram shaped region of dust observed by ESA's Herschel Space telescope can be best described using galaxy formation models where a flat spiral galaxy collides with an elliptical galaxy becoming warped in the process.
PIA15421:
The Action-Packed Centaurus A
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.683 MB)     JPEG (24.94 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-04 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
SPIRE
XMM-Newton
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Inner structural features seen in this image from ESA's Herschel Space Observatory are helping scientists to understand the mechanisms and interactions within the galaxy.
PIA15422:
Centaurus A All Prettied Up in Infrared and X-Rays
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.683 MB)     JPEG (38.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-12 Herschel Space Observatory
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New data from the Herschel Space Observatory suggest comets are constantly smashing together around the star Fomalhaut, a young star, just a few hundred million years old, and twice as massive as the sun.
PIA15425:
Herschel Spots Comet Massacre Around Nearby Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (16.72 MB)     JPEG (114.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-12 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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This image from NASA's WISE spacecraft shows a blazar, a voracious supermassive black hole inside a galaxy with a jet that happens to be pointed right toward Earth. Active black holes are often found at the hearts of elliptical galaxies.
PIA15424:
Lone Blazar
Full Resolution:     TIFF (29.77 MB)     JPEG (981.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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This infrared vision of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed that the Sombrero galaxy, named after its appearance in visible light to a wide-brimmed hat, is in fact two galaxies in one.
PIA15426:
The Sombrero Galaxy's Split Personality
Full Resolution:     TIFF (14.2 MB)     JPEG (437.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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New observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal the Sombrero galaxy is not simply a regular flat disk galaxy of stars as previously believed, but a more round elliptical galaxy with a flat disk tucked inside.
PIA15427:
Sombrero Galaxy Not So Flat After All
Full Resolution:     TIFF (14.2 MB)     JPEG (339.1 kB)
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 2012-05-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals the light from a 'super Earth' called 55 Cancri e. The planet is the smallest yet, beyond our solar system, to reveal its direct light.
PIA15621:
Magician of a Planet Disappears to Reveal Itself
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (332.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-04-26 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 IRAS
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It's a dust bunny of cosmic proportions. Astronomers used images from NASA's WISE to locate an aging star shedding loads of dust (orange dot at upper left).
PIA15428:
Dusty Star Stands Out From the Rest
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.07 MB)     JPEG (265 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-02 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
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These images, taken with NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawaii, show a brightening inside a galaxy caused by a flare from its nucleus. The arrow in each image points to the galaxy.
PIA15620:
Black Hole Swallows a Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.568 MB)     JPEG (109.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows how NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was able to detect a super Earth's direct light for the first time using its sensitive heat-seeking infrared vision.
PIA15622:
First-of-Its-Kind Glimpse at a Super Earth (Artist Animation)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (164 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept depicts 55 Cancri e as it orbits its star. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has, for the first time, captured the light emanating from a distant super Earth, a planet more massive than Earth but lighter than Neptune.
PIA15623:
Super Earth Reveals Itself to Spitzer (Artist Animation) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (6.194 MB)     JPEG (42.26 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This graphic illuminates the process by which astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have, for the first time, detected the light from a super Earth planet.
PIA15624:
Measuring Brightness of Super Earth 55 Cancri e
Full Resolution:     TIFF (22.68 MB)     JPEG (708.5 kB)
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 2012-05-17 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 2007-11-14 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
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Evidence from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer supports the long-held notion that many galaxies begin life as smaller spirals before transforming into larger, elliptical-shaped galaxies.
PIA15656:
Portrait of a Galaxy's Life
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (569.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-16 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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NEOWISE, the asteroid-hunting portion of NASA's WISE mission, illustrates the differences between orbits of a typical near-Earth asteroid (blue) and a potentially hazardous asteroid, or PHA (orange). PHAs are a subset of the near-Earth asteroids (NEAs).
PIA15627:
Edge-on View of Near-Earth Asteroids
Full Resolution:     TIFF (45.56 MB)     JPEG (1.088 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-16 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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Results from NASA's NEOWISE survey find that more potentially hazardous asteroids, or PHAs, are closely aligned with the plane of our solar system than previous models suggested.
PIA15628:
The Hustle and Bustle of our Solar System
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12.21 MB)     JPEG (508.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-21 Kepler
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This artist's concept depicts a comet-like tail of a possible disintegrating super Mercury-size planet candidate as it transits, or crosses, its parent star, named KIC 12557548. The results are based on data from NASA's Kepler mission.
PIA15629:
Possible Disintegrating Planet (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (5.41 MB)     JPEG (116.9 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 2012-06-07 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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Astronomers have uncovered patterns of light that appear to be from the first stars and galaxies that formed in the universe. The light patterns were hidden within a strip of sky observed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA15634:
Hidden Patterns of Light Revealed by Spitzer
Full Resolution:     TIFF (6.205 MB)     JPEG (540.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-06-08 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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This image shows our own back yard, astronomically speaking, from a vantage point about 30 light-years away from the sun. It highlights the population of tiny brown dwarfs recently discovered by NASA's WISE. The image simulates actual positions of stars.
PIA15637:
Highlighting our Tiniest Neighbors Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (28.8 MB)     JPEG (331.3 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 2012-06-26 Hubble Space Telescope
 Advanced Camera for Surveys
WFC3
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Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found a puzzling arc of light behind an extremely massive cluster of galaxies residing 10 billion light-years away.
PIA15803:
Galaxy Cluster and Giant Arc
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.657 MB)     JPEG (195.2 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 2012-07-02 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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The Flame Nebula sits on the eastern hip of Orion the Hunter, a constellation most easily visible in the northern hemisphere during winter evenings in this view from NASA's WISE Telescope.
PIA15635:
A Different View of the Flame Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (91.79 MB)     JPEG (1.767 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-07-09 Adaptive Optics System and Coronagraph
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These two images show HD 157728, a nearby star 1.5 times larger than the sun. Project 1640 uses new technology on the Palomar Observatory's 200-inch Hale telescope near San Diego, Calif., to spot planets.
PIA15807:
Using 'Dark Holes' to Spot Planets
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.898 MB)     JPEG (105.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-07-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have detected what they believe is an alien world just two-thirds the size of Earth -- one of the smallest on record.
PIA15808:
Exoplanet is Extremely Hot and Incredibly Close (Artist's Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (44.26 MB)     JPEG (821.4 kB)
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 2012-08-29 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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The entire sky as mapped by NASA's WISE at infrared wavelengths is shown here, with an artist's concept of the WISE satellite superimposed.
PIA15809:
A WISE 'Eye' on the Whole Sky (Aartist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (68.28 MB)     JPEG (3.835 MB)
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 2012-08-29 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 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 2012-08-29 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 2012-08-31 1259x944x3
Artist's concept illustrates a quasar, or feeding black hole, similar to APM 08279+5255, where astronomers discovered huge amounts of water vapor. Gas and dust likely form a torus around the central black hole, with clouds of charged gas above and below.
PIA16114:
Quasar Drenched in Water Vapor (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (3.567 MB)     JPEG (154.9 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 2012-09-11 Exoplanet
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A hypothetical planet is depicted in this artist's concept moving through the habitable zone and then further out into a long, cold winter.
PIA15800:
Eccentric Habitable Zones (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.93 MB)     JPEG (448.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-09-15 2400x2400x3
This image of the Beehive star cluster points out the location of its first known planets, Pr0201b and Pr0211b, or, as astronomers call them, the first 'b's' in the Beehive.
PIA15801:
Bees in the Beehive
Full Resolution:     TIFF (17.29 MB)     JPEG (469.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-09-15 4800x2700x3
Astronomers have discovered two gas giant planets orbiting stars in the Beehive cluster, a collection of about 1,000 tightly packed stars.
PIA15802:
Starry Starry Skies (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.9 MB)     JPEG (405.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-09-18 1439x1080x3
Researchers are brewing up icy, organic concoctions in the lab to mimic materials at the edge of our solar system and beyond. The lab is shown at right, and a very young solar system, with its swirling planet-forming disk is at left.
PIA15805:
Ice from the Solar System's Edge (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.664 MB)     JPEG (176.6 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 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
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This image from NASA's Spitzer and GALEX shows the Helix nebula, a dying star throwing a cosmic tantrum. In death, the star's dusty outer layers are unraveling into space, glowing from the intense UV radiation being pumped out by the hot stellar core.
PIA15817:
The Helix Nebula: Unraveling at the Seams
Full Resolution:     TIFF (108.7 MB)     JPEG (3.087 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-10-15 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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Observations from NASA's WISE all-sky survey reveal new clues about Jovian Trojans, mysterious asteroids that orbit in front of and behind Jupiter in its path around the sun seen here in an artist's concept.
PIA16211:
Trojan Colors Revealed (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.61 MB)     JPEG (818.6 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 2012-10-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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The image on the left shows a portion of our sky, called the Boötes field, in infrared light, while the image on the right shows a mysterious, background infrared glow captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in the same region of sky.
PIA16215:
Unmasking a Hidden Glow
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12.15 MB)     JPEG (986.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-10-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concepts shows new research from scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggests that a mysterious infrared glow across our whole sky is coming from stray stars torn from galaxies.
PIA16216:
Spitzer Sees Stray Starlight (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.93 MB)     JPEG (219.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-11-01 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This illustration shows three possible scenarios for the evolution of asteroid belts. At the top, a Jupiter-size planet migrates through the asteroid belt, scattering material and inhibiting the formation of life on planets.
PIA16212:
Scenarios for the Evolution of Asteroid Belts
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.31 MB)     JPEG (616.5 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 2012-11-14 Herschel Space Observatory
XMM-Newton
 PACS
SPIRE
XMM-Newton X-ray
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W44 is located around 10,000 light-years away, within a forest of dense star-forming clouds in the constellation of Aquila, the Eagle. This image combines data from ESA's Herschel and XXM-Newton space observatories.
PIA16464:
Life and Death in a Star-Forming Cloud
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.82 MB)     JPEG (446.7 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 2012-11-21 Planck
 Planck Space Telescope
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Planck has discovered a bridge of hot gas that connects galaxy clusters Abell 399 (lower center) and Abell 401 (top left). The galaxy pair is located about a billion light-years from Earth.
PIA16466:
Bridging Cities of Galaxies
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.2 MB)     JPEG (1.518 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-11-28 Herschel Space Observatory
 Herschel Telescope
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This artist's impression shows the orbits of planets and comets around the star 61 Vir, superimposed on a view from the Herschel Space Telescope.
PIA16467:
A Vast Disk of Comets (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.098 MB)     JPEG (45.26 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-12-06 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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A galaxy cluster 7.7 billion light-years away has been discovered using infrared data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The discovery image is shown in the main panel.
PIA16601:
WISE Finds a Galactic Metropolis
Full Resolution:     TIFF (18.01 MB)     JPEG (444.8 kB)
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 2012-12-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
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The giant star Zeta Ophiuchi, a young, large and hot star located around 370 light-years away, is having a 'shocking' effect on the surrounding dust clouds in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA16604:
Massive Star Makes Waves
Full Resolution:     TIFF (43.82 MB)     JPEG (1.115 MB)
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 2013-01-08 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception illustrates the brown dwarf named 2MASSJ22282889-431026. NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes observed the object to learn more about its turbulent atmosphere.
PIA16609:
Forecast for Exotic Weather (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.75 MB)     JPEG (803.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-08 Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept illustrates an asteroid belt around the bright star Vega. Evidence for this warm ring of debris was found using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory.
PIA16610:
Rocky Ring of Debris Around Vega (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.75 MB)     JPEG (1.011 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-09 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
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ESA's Herschel Space Observatory captured asteroid Apophis in its field of view during the approach to Earth on Jan. 5 and 6, 2013.
PIA16675:
Herschel's Three-Color View of Asteroid Apophis
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.202 MB)     JPEG (25.73 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
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-10 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
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Computer simulations of the collision between NGC 6872 and IC 4970 reproduce the basic features of the galaxies as we see them today.
PIA16614:
Simulation of Galactic Collision (Simulation)
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-22 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
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The red supergiant star Betelgeuse (center) is surrounded by a clumpy envelope of material in its immediate vicinity in this view from the Herschel Space Observatory.
PIA16680:
Betelgeuse's Enigmatic Environment
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-07 934x935x3
Two young binary stars may be the source of mysterious clock-like bursts of light from an object called LRLL 54361 that lies inside the star-forming region IC 348, located 950 light-years away.
PIA16689:
Artist's Impression of Pulsating Object LRLL 54361
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-07 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have teamed up to uncover a mysterious infant star that behaves like a police strobe light.
PIA16690:
Protostar LRLL 54361
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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 2013-02-20 Kepler
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NASA's Kepler mission has discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star like our sun, approximately 210 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.
PIA16693:
A Tiny Planet (Artist's Concept)
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-20 Kepler
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NASA's Kepler mission compares artist's concepts of the planets in the Kepler-37 system to the moon and planets in the solar system. The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our moon.
PIA16694:
A Moon-size Line Up (Artist's Concept)
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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)
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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)
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-27 NuSTAR
XMM-Newton
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This image taken by the ultraviolet-light monitoring camera on the European Space Agency's (ESA's) XMM-Newton telescope shows the beautiful spiral arms of the galaxy NGC1365.
PIA16699:
NuSTAR's Improved View
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-11 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
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WISE J104915.57-531906, center of the larger image, was taken by the NASA's WISE. This is the closest star system discovered since 1916, and the third closest to our sun. It is 6.5 light-years away.
PIA16872:
Two Brown Dwarfs in Our Backyard
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-19 Herschel Space Observatory
 Herschel Telescope
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Astronomers have discovered some of the youngest stars ever seen thanks to the Herschel space observatory; dense envelopes of gas and dust surround the fledging stars known as protostars, make their detection difficult until now.
PIA16839:
Infant Stars Peek Out from Dusty Cradles
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.03 MB)     JPEG (339.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
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This map shows the oldest light in our universe, as detected with the greatest precision yet by ESA's Planck mission. The ancient light, called the cosmic microwave background, was imprinted on the sky when the universe was 370,000 years old.
PIA16873:
Best Map Ever of the Universe
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
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This graphic illustrates the evolution of satellites designed to measure ancient light leftover from the big bang that created our universe 13.8 billion years ago; NASA's COBE Explorer (left) and WMAP (middle), and ESA's Planck (right).
PIA16874:
The Universe Comes into Sharper Focus
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
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This full-sky map from ESA's Planck mission shows matter between Earth and the edge of the observable universe. Regions with less mass show up as lighter areas while regions with more mass are darker.
PIA16875:
Map of Matter in the Universe
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
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This illustration summarizes the almost 14-billion-year-long history of our universe. It shows the main events that occurred between the initial phase of the cosmos.
PIA16876:
The Story of Our Universe
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
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ESA's Planck mission has imaged the oldest light in our universe. The top map shows Planck's all-sky map of the cosmic microwave background, whereas the bottom map shows the largest-scale features of the map.
PIA16877:
Peculiar Features in Patterns of Ancient Light
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
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ESA's Planck has imaged the most distant light we can observe, called the cosmic microwave background, with unprecedented precision.
PIA16880:
Through the Universe's Looking Glass Animation Icon
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
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Tones represents sound waves that traveled through the early universe, and were later 'heard' by ESA's Planck space telescope. The primordial sound waves have been translated into frequencies we can hear.
PIA16881:
Sounds of the Ancient Universe
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
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This artist's concept depicts the 'life' of a photon, or particle of light, as it travels across space and time, from the very early universe ESA's Planck satellite.
PIA16882:
A Journey of Light Through Space and Time Animation Icon
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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
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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
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-04 Kepler
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This artist's concept depicts an ultra-dense dead star, called a white dwarf, passing in front of a small red star. NASA's planet-hunting Kepler was able to detect gravitational lensing by measuring a strangely subtle dip in the star's brightness.
PIA16885:
Dead Star Warps Light of Red Star (Artist's Animation) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (44.26 MB)     JPEG (907.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-04 Kepler
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This chart shows data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, which looks for planets by monitoring changes in the brightness of stars. As planets orbit in front of a star, they block the starlight, causing periodic dips.
PIA16886:
White Dwarfs: Small and Strong
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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
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-18 Kepler
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Relative sizes of Kepler habitable zone planets discovered as of 2013 April 18. Except for Earth, these are artists' renditions.
PIA16888:
Lining Kepler Habitable Zone Planets Up
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-18 Kepler
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This diagram compares the planets of the inner solar system to Kepler-62, a five-planet system about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. At seven billion years old, the star is somewhat older than the sun.
PIA16889:
Kepler-62 and the Solar System
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-18 Kepler
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This diagram compares the planets of the inner solar system to Kepler-69, a two-planet system about 2,700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
PIA17000:
Kepler-69 and the Solar System
Full Resolution:     TIFF (24.49 MB)     JPEG (346.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-18 Kepler
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The artist's concept depicts Kepler-62f, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a star smaller and cooler than the sun, located about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.
PIA17001:
Kepler-62f, a Small Habitable Zone World (Artist Concept)
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Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-18 Kepler
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This artist's concept depicts in the foreground planet Kepler-62f, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of its star, which is seen peeking out from behind the right edge of the planet.
PIA17002:
Morning Star (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.75 MB)     JPEG (1.245 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-18 Kepler
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The artist's concept depicts Kepler-69c, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a star like our sun, located about 2,700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
PIA17003:
Super-Venus (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (27.02 MB)     JPEG (525.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-18 Kepler
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The artist's concept depicts Kepler-62e, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a star smaller and cooler than the sun, located about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.
PIA17004:
Kepler-62e (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.75 MB)     JPEG (1.774 MB)
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)
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