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Addition DateSort Ascending Target Mission Instrument Size
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 2012-05-08 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 2012-05-08 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 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
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 2012-04-24 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 2012-04-03 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 2012-03-08 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 2012-02-29 Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
Herschel Telescope
IRAC
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and ESA's Herschel mission combined to show this view of the Orion nebula, found below the three belt stars in the famous constellation of Orion the Hunter, highlights fledgling stars hidden in the gas and clouds.
PIA13959:
Orion's Rainbow of Infrared Light
Full Resolution:     TIFF (24.19 MB)     JPEG (321.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-02-22 Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected the solid form of buckyballs in space for the first time. To form a solid particle, the buckyballs must stack together, as illustrated in this artist's concept showing the very beginnings of the process.
PIA15266:
Building a Buckyball Particle in Space (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.73 MB)     JPEG (699.1 kB)
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 2012-01-10 Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
SPIRE
PACS
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This image shows the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy in infrared light as seen by ESA's Herschel Space Observatory and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The brightest center-left region is called 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula.
PIA15254:
Dusty Space Cloud
Full Resolution:     TIFF (720.8 MB)     JPEG (22.21 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-01-10 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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A bubbling cauldron of star birth is highlighted in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Massive stars have blown bubbles, or cavities, in the dust and gas -- a violent process that triggers both the death and birth of stars.
PIA15253:
Stars Brewing in Cygnus X
Full Resolution:     TIFF (492.3 MB)     JPEG (14.61 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-12-21 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
Spizter Space Telescope
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This image from NASA's Hubble telescope shows one of the most distant galaxies known, called GN-108036, dating back to 750 million years after the Big Bang that created our universe. The galaxy's light took 12.9 billion years to reach us.
PIA15251:
Distant Galaxy Bursts with Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (3.597 MB)     JPEG (146.2 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)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-11-16 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
Chandra X-ray Telescope
IRAC
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About 2,400 massive stars in the center of 30 Doradus, the Tarantula Nebula, produce intense radiation and powerful winds as they blow off material seen as infrared emission from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and X-rays from Chandra X-ray Observatory.
PIA15079:
30 Doradus: The Growing Tarantula Within
Full Resolution:     TIFF (33.15 MB)     JPEG (457 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-10-24 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
Chandra X-ray Telescope
IRAC
WISE Telescope
XMM-Newton X-ray
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This image combines data from four different space telescopes to create a multi-wavelength view of all that remains of the oldest documented example of a supernova, called RCW 86.
PIA14872:
All Eyes on Oldest Recorded Supernova
Full Resolution:     TIFF (18.16 MB)     JPEG (361.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-10-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
IRAC
WISE Telescope
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Infrared images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer are combined in this image of RCW 86, the dusty remains of the oldest documented example of an exploding star, or supernova.
PIA14871:
All That Remains of Exploded Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (18.16 MB)     JPEG (660.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-10-19 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception illustrates a storm of comets around a star near our own, called Eta Corvi. Evidence for this barrage comes from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared detectors.
PIA14739:
It's Raining Comets (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (30.72 MB)     JPEG (328.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-09-28 NGC 281 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
Chandra X-ray Telescope
IRAC
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This composite image of the star cluster NGC 28 contains X-ray data from Chandra, in purple, with infrared observations from Spitzer, in red, green, blue. NGC 281 is known informally as the 'Pacman Nebula' because of its appearance in optical images.
PIA14731:
The 'Pacman Nebula'
Full Resolution:     TIFF (29.37 MB)     JPEG (797.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-09-16 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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Swirling dust clouds and bright newborn stars dominate the view in this image of the Lagoon nebula from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The nebula lies in the general direction of the center of our galaxy in the constellation Sagittarius.
PIA14728:
Into the Depths of the Lagoon Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.481 MB)     JPEG (449.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-08-10 Helix Nebula Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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The 'Dumbbell nebula,' also known as Messier 27, pumps out infrared light in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Planetary nebulae are now known to be the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun.
PIA14417:
Weighing in on the Dumbbell Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (11.76 MB)     JPEG (495.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-08-01 Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
HIFI
IRAC
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This graphic illustrates where astronomers at last found oxygen molecules in space -- near the star-forming core of the Orion nebula. The squiggly lines, or spectra, reveal the signatures of oxygen molecules, detected by ESA's Hershel Space Observatory.
PIA14407:
Oxygen in Orion
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (308.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-08-01 Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
HIFI
IRAC
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ESA's Herschel Space Observatory found oxygen molecules in a dense patch of gas and dust adjacent to star-forming regions in the Orion nebula.
PIA14406:
Oxygen No Longer Lost in Space
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (276.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-07-20 IC 342 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
MIPS
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Looking like a spider's web swirled into a spiral, galaxy IC 342 presents its delicate pattern of dust in this infrared light image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The very center glows especially brightly in the infrared.
PIA14402:
A Twisted Star-Forming Web in the Galaxy IC 342
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.77 MB)     JPEG (495.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-07-20 IC 342 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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Looking like a spider's web swirled into a spiral, galaxy IC 342 presents its delicate pattern of dust in this infrared light image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA14401:
Spider Web of Stars in IC 342A
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.77 MB)     JPEG (490.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-06-30 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows how a normal spiral galaxy around our local universe (left) might have looked back in the distant universe, when astronomers think galaxies would have been filled with larger populations of hot, bright stars (right).
PIA14107:
Galaxies Near and Far (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (28.35 MB)     JPEG (677.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-06-30 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope exposes the depths of this dusty nebula with its infrared vision, showing stellar infants that are lost behind dark clouds when viewed in visible light.
PIA14106:
Making a Spectacle of Star Formation in Orion
Full Resolution:     TIFF (19.99 MB)     JPEG (597.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-06-15 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
MIPS
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This glowing emerald nebula seen by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is named RCW 120; this region of hot gas and glowing dust can be found in the murky clouds encircled by the tail of the constellation Scorpius.
PIA14104:
In the Blackest Night, a Green Ring Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.88 MB)     JPEG (1.234 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-05-26 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows what lies near the sword of the constellation Orion -- an active stellar nursery containing thousands of young stars and developing protostars. Many will turn out like our sun.
PIA14101:
Stars Adorn Orion's Sword
Full Resolution:     TIFF (57.96 MB)     JPEG (859.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-05-26 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This graphic illustrates a stellar fountain of crystal rain, beginning with a NASA Spitzer picture of the star in question, and ending with an artist's concept of what the crystal 'rain' might look like.
PIA14099:
Finding Forsterite Around a Developing Star (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (19.5 MB)     JPEG (443.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-05-26 Spitzer Space Telescope
Infrared Spectrograph (IRS)
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Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have, for the first time, found signatures of silicate crystals around a newly forming protostar in the constellation of Orion.
PIA14100:
Cosmic Fountain of Crystal Rain
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (297.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-05-25 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
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This montage combines observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft showing three examples of colliding galaxies from a new photo atlas of galactic 'train wrecks.'
PIA14097:
Galactic Train Wrecks
Full Resolution:     TIFF (16.29 MB)     JPEG (537.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-04-04 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope took this image of a baby star sprouting two identical jets (green lines emanating from fuzzy star). The left jet was hidden behind a dark cloud, which Spitzer can see through.
PIA13930:
It's Twins! Spitzer Finds Hidden Jet
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12.6 MB)     JPEG (185.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-04-04 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
Visible Light
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This image layout shows two views of the same baby star from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer's view shows that this star has a second, identical jet shooting off in the opposite direction of the first.
PIA13929:
Undercover Jet Exposed
Full Resolution:     TIFF (11.89 MB)     JPEG (182.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-03-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
MIPS
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A view from the bustling center of our galactic metropolis. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope offers a fresh, infrared view of the frenzied scene at the center of our Milky Way, revealing what lies behind the dust.
PIA13932:
Stars Gather in 'Downtown' Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (432 MB)     JPEG (24.43 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-03-03 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
MIPS
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This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows infrared light from the Sunflower galaxy, otherwise known as Messier 63. Spitzer's view highlights the galaxy's dusty spiral arms.
PIA13901:
Sunflower Galaxy Glows with Infrared Light
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.325 MB)     JPEG (126 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-03-03 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This view of the Sunflower galaxy highlights a variety of infrared wavelengths captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA13900:
Spitzer's Sunflower Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.24 MB)     JPEG (154.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-02-10 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This view of the North America nebula combines both visible and infrared light observations, taken by the Digitized Sky Survey and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Clusters of young stars (about one million years old) can be found throughout the image.
PIA13845:
North America Nebula in Different Lights
Full Resolution:     TIFF (138.7 MB)     JPEG (7.547 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-02-10 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
MIPS
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This visible light/infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a swirling landscape of stars known as the North America nebula. Clusters of young stars (about one million years old) can be found throughout the image.
PIA13844:
An Extended Stellar Family
Full Resolution:     TIFF (138.7 MB)     JPEG (5.829 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-02-10 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a swirling landscape of stars known as the North America nebula. Clusters of young stars (about one million years old) can be found throughout the image.
PIA13843:
The Case of the Disappearing Continent
Full Resolution:     TIFF (138.7 MB)     JPEG (8.163 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-01-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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Maffei 2 is the poster child for an infrared galaxy that is almost invisible to optical telescopes. But this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope penetrates the dust to reveal the galaxy in all its glory.
PIA13789:
The Hidden Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (17.3 MB)     JPEG (356.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-01-12 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was able to show that a 'standard candle' used to measure cosmological distances is shrinking, a finding that affects precise measurements of the age, size and expansion rate of our universe.
PIA13781:
Standard Candle in the Wind
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.922 MB)     JPEG (52.57 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-12-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows the searing-hot gas planet WASP-12b (orange orb) and its star. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered that the planet has more carbon than oxygen, making it the first carbon-rich planet ever observed.
PIA13691:
Hot, Carbon-Rich Planet (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.04 MB)     JPEG (276.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-12-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope indicates the presence of molecules in the planet WASP-12b -- a super-hot gas giant that orbits tightly around its star.
PIA13690:
Signature of a Carbon-Rich Planet
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.75 MB)     JPEG (373.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-11-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
Very Large Array (VLA)
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This diagram shows findings of results of observations made primarily by NASA's Spitzer Telescopes and the Very Large Array radio telescope and illuminates new details about a celestial 'sandbar' connecting two massive islands of galaxies.
PIA13638:
Bent Galactic Jets
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (229.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-11-19 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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A brilliant burst of star formation is revealed in this image combining observations from NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes. The collision of two spiral galaxies has triggered this luminous starburst.
PIA13632:
Shrouded Starburst
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.735 MB)     JPEG (195.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-10-27 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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An infrared photo of the Small Magellanic Cloud taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is shown in this artist's illustration; an example of a planetary nebula, and a magnified depiction of buckyballs.
PIA13551:
Extragalactic Space Balls (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.25 MB)     JPEG (1.501 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-10-19 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows how astronomers located a hot spot on a distant gas planet named upsilon Andromedae b. Termed an exoplanet, it orbits a star beyond our sun, and whips around very closely to its star.
PIA13495:
How to Find a Planetary Hot Spot
Full Resolution:     TIFF (18.66 MB)     JPEG (325.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-10-19 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This frame from an animation based on NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope data illustrates an unexpected warm spot on the surface of a gaseous exoplanet.The bright orange patches are the hottest part of the planet.
PIA13494:
Weird Warm Spot on Exoplanet Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.77 MB)     JPEG (40.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-10-19 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept based on data found by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows upsilon Andromedae b, a hot gas giant that whips around its star every 4.6 days. Because it is so close to its star, it is tidally locked.
PIA13493:
Planetary Hot Spot Not Under the Glare of Star (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (37.75 MB)     JPEG (375.5 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 2010-09-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This series of images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a dark mass of gas and dust, called a core, where new stars and planets will likely spring up. This particular core lies deep within a larger dark cloud called L183.
PIA13409:
An Unexpected Scattering of Light
Full Resolution:     TIFF (24.71 MB)     JPEG (1.729 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-08-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This artist's concept illustrates an imminent planetary collision around a pair of double stars. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that such collisions could be common around a certain type of tight double, or binary, star system.
PIA13347:
Before the Smashup (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (355.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-08-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This artist's concept illustrates a tight pair of stars and a surrounding disk of dust, most likely the shattered remains of planetary smashups. Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the scientists found dusty evidence for such collisions.
PIA13346:
Circle of Planetary Ashes (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (395.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-08-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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Astronomers have found that stars are forming more rapidly in the center of a distant galaxy cluster than at its edges, which is completely reversed from galaxy clusters seen in the local universe.
PIA13335:
Ancient Galaxy Cluster Still Producing Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12.02 MB)     JPEG (542.9 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 2010-07-28 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a wispy, vast structure in the constellation Perseus with a small bubble right in its center puffed out by spasms of fresh-formed, heavyweight stars.
PIA13304:
Awash in Green and Red
Full Resolution:     TIFF (27 MB)     JPEG (1.548 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-28 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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A star-forming region shines from the considerable distance of more than 30,000 light-years away in the upper left of this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This image is a combination of data from Spitzer and the Two Micron All Sky Survey.
PIA13303:
Beastly Stars and a Bubble
Full Resolution:     TIFF (17.3 MB)     JPEG (871.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-28 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This image shows an outflow of gas from a new star as it jets from a space object dubbed IRAS 21078+5211. The reddish blob in its center, as picked up by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope contrasts nicely with the clouds, colored green, that surround it.
PIA13302:
A Shocking Outflow
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.735 MB)     JPEG (406 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-28 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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Two extremely bright stars illuminate a greenish mist in this image from the new 'GLIMPSE360' survey from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The fog is comprised of hydrogen and carbon compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
PIA13301:
Bright Lights, Green City
Full Resolution:     TIFF (108 MB)     JPEG (6.345 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-22 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's image illustrates vibrating buckyballs -- spherical molecules of carbon discovered in space for the first time by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA13290:
Buckyballs Jiggle Like Jello (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.756 MB)     JPEG (36.54 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-22 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This image illustrates that buckyballs -- discovered in space by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope -- closely resemble old fashioned, black-and-white soccer balls, only on much smaller scales.
PIA13289:
Mini Soccer Balls in Space Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.756 MB)     JPEG (53.41 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-22 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has at last found buckyballs (resembling soccer balls) in space shown in this artist's concept using Hubble's picture of the NGC 2440 nebula. Hubble image cred: NASA, ESA, STScI
PIA13288:
Space Balls (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (422 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-22 Spitzer Space Telescope
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These data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show the signatures of buckyballs in space. Buckyballs, also called C60 or buckministerfullerenes, after architect Buckminister Fuller's geodesic domes.
PIA13287:
Jiggling Soccer-Ball Molecules in Space
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (390.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-14 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This star-forming region, captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, is dominated by the bright, young star IRAS 13481-6124; it is the first massive baby star for which astronomers could obtain a detailed look at the dusty disk closely encircling it.
PIA13276:
Massive Young Star and its Cradle
Full Resolution:     TIFF (10.45 MB)     JPEG (789 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-07 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
MIPS
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A dragon-shaped cloud of dust seems to fly out from a bright explosion in this infrared light image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. These views have revealed that this dark cloud, called M17 SWex, is forming stars at a furious rate.
PIA13241:
The Invisible Dragon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (84.36 MB)     JPEG (4.221 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-07-07 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
MIPS
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This visible-light view from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope highlights the bright M17 nebula, as well as the glowing hot gas filling the 'bubble' to its left.
PIA13240:
Dragon's Lair
Full Resolution:     TIFF (84.36 MB)     JPEG (6.567 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-06-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
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This artist's concept shows hundreds of brown dwarfs (deep red), expected to be added to the population of known stars in our solar neighborhood. Our sun and other known stars appear white, yellow or red.
PIA13217:
Coolest Orbs on the Block (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (208.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-06-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope using infrared light shows what astronomers think is one of the coldest brown dwarfs discovered so far (red dot in middle of frame).
PIA13216:
Cool as a Stellar Cucumber
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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 2010-05-20 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This image is one of six images taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, showing that tight-knit twin, or binary stars might be triggered to form by asymmetrical envelopes.
PIA13149:
Blobs House Twin Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (15.73 MB)     JPEG (558.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-05-11 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope contributed to the infrared component of the observations of a surprisingly large collections of galaxies (red dots in center). Shorter-wavelength infrared and visible data are provided by Japan's Subaru telescope.
PIA13134:
Galactic Metropolis
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.76 MB)     JPEG (536.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-04-21 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept illustrates a hot, Neptune-sized planet called GJ 436b. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found evidence that GJ 436b, orbiting a star beyond our sun lacks methane -- an ingredient common to many planets in our own solar system.
PIA13054:
Exotic Exoplanet (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.25 MB)     JPEG (331.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-04-01 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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A colony of hot, young stars is stirring up the cosmic scene in this new picture from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The image shows the Orion nebula, a happening place where stars are born.
PIA13005:
Orion's Dreamy Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (33.16 MB)     JPEG (603 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-03-29 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
Chandra X-ray Telescope
IRAC
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A composite image from NASA's Chandra and Spitzer space telescopes shows the dusty remains of a collapsed star, a supernova remnant called G54.1+0.3. The white source at the center is a dead star called a pulsar.
PIA12982:
Dusty Dead Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.31 MB)     JPEG (303.8 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 2010-03-17 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 2010-01-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
MIPS
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This infrared portrait of the Small Magellanic Cloud, taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, reveals the stars and dust in this galaxy as never seen before. This nearby satellite galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy is some 200,000 light-years away.
PIA12485:
Little Galaxy Explored
Full Resolution:     TIFF (164.3 MB)     JPEG (14.03 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-01-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Every 27 years, a bright star called Epsilon Aurigae fades over period of two years, then brightens back up again. A companion is known to be surrounded by a dusty disk, as illustrated in this artist's concept.
PIA12484:
Mystery of the Fading Star (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (41.58 MB)     JPEG (580.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-11-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows two young brown dwarfs, objects that fall somewhere between planets and stars in terms of their temperature and mass.
PIA12377:
Twin Brown Dwarfs Wrapped in a Blanket
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.693 MB)     JPEG (141.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-11-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
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Are brown dwarfs born like stars, as in this rendering, or do they form like planets orbiting another star? A study by researchers using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has led to the preliminary conclusion that they are formed much like a star.
PIA12376:
Dusty Beginnings of a Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.04 MB)     JPEG (389.4 kB)
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 2009-11-04 HR 8799 Spitzer Space Telescope
MIPS
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this infrared image of a giant halo of very fine dust around the young star HR 8799, located 129 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus.
PIA12336:
A Picture of Unsettled Planetary Youth
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.213 MB)     JPEG (40.46 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-10-07 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This picture highlights a slice of Saturn's largest ring. The ring (red band) was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which detected infrared light, or heat, from the dusty ring material.
PIA12259:
Infrared Ring around Saturn
Full Resolution:     TIFF (845.1 kB)     JPEG (50.56 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-10-07 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This image showcases the Saturnian system, beginning with the planet itself and panning out to its newest addition -- an enormous ring discovered in infrared light by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA12258:
Saturn Family Tour
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.762 MB)     JPEG (65.03 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-10-07 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception shows a nearly invisible ring around Saturn -- the largest of the giant planet's many rings. It was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA12257:
Saturn's Infrared Ring (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (245.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-10-07 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception shows a nearly invisible ring around Saturn -- the largest of the giant planet's many rings. It was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PIA12256:
The King of Rings (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (268.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-09-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's conception shows a lump of material in a swirling, planet- forming disk. Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that either another star or a planet could be pushing planetary material together, as illustrated here.
PIA12210:
Lump of Planetary Stuff (Artist Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (490 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-08-12 Cepheus B Chandra X-ray Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
Chandra X-ray Telescope
IRAC
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This composite image, combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope shows the star-forming cloud Cepheus B, located in our Milky Way galaxy about 2,400 light years from Earth.
PIA12169:
Trigger-Happy Cloud
Full Resolution:     TIFF (29.69 MB)     JPEG (402.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-08-10 HD 172555 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury. NASA's Spitzer found evidence that a high-speed collision of this sort occurred a few thousand years ago around a young star.
PIA12166:
Planetary Demolition Derby (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (362.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-08-05 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This image is one of the first to be taken during Spitzer's warm mission -- a new phase that began after the telescope, which operated for more than five-and-a-half years, ran out of liquid coolant.
PIA12164:
Spitzer's First Warm Images
Full Resolution:     TIFF (5.919 MB)     JPEG (231.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-07-23 NGC 1097 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has imaged a wild creature of the dark -- a coiled galaxy with an eye-like object at its center.
PIA12151:
Coiled Creature of the Night
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12.7 MB)     JPEG (467.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-06-10 Milky Way Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows three baby stars in the bustling center of our Milky Way galaxy. The three stars are the first to be discovered in the region.
PIA12074:
Baby Stars Finally Found in Jumbled Galactic Center
Full Resolution:     TIFF (18.06 MB)     JPEG (805.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-05-13 Spitzer Space Telescope
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This artist's concept illustrates how silicate crystals like those found in comets can be created by an outburst from a growing star. The image shows a young sun-like star encircled by its planet-forming disk of gas and dust. Animation available.
PIA12008:
Silicate Crystal Formation in the Disk of an Erupting Star (Artist Concept) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (276.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-04-30 Messier 81 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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Here we see two different views of the spiral galaxy, Messier 81. On the left is an image taken in blue light, while on the right is a specially-processed version of an image taken with NASA's Spitzer's infrared array camera at 4.5 microns.
PIA12073:
"Missing Link" Found
Full Resolution:     TIFF (8.027 MB)     JPEG (275.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-04-30 Spitzer Space Telescope
IRAC
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This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the spiral galaxy NGC 2841, located about 46 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy is helping astronomers solve one of the oldest puzzles in astronomy.
PIA12001:
Why Are Galaxies So Smooth?
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.943 MB)     JPEG (117.7 kB)
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