Planetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Click here to return to the Photojournal Home Page Click here to view a list of Photojournal Image Galleries Photojournal_inner_header
Latest Images  |  Spacecraft & Technology  |  Animations  |  Space Images App  |  Feedback  |  Photojournal Search  
Your search criteria found 1314 images
Gallery: Universe
Go to PIAxxxxx:
Refine this list of images by:
Target:
Mission:
Spacecraft:
Instrument:
Click on an image for detailed information
Click on a column heading to sort in ascending or descending order
My
List		 Addition DateSort Ascending Target Mission Instrument Size
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
 4000x2200x3
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
Full Resolution:     TIFF (26.41 MB)     JPEG (330.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
 3600x2000x3
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
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.61 MB)     JPEG (430.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-21 Planck
 3600x1800x3
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
Full Resolution:     TIFF (19.45 MB)     JPEG (2.28 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-19 Herschel Space Observatory
 Herschel Telescope
 3100x2260x3
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 2013-03-11 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 2233x2236x3
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
Full Resolution:     TIFF (14.99 MB)     JPEG (190.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-05 Rosette Nebula Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
SPIRE
 4207x3822x3
Artist's impression of Herschel is set against an image captured by the observatory, showing baby stars forming in the Rosette nebula. The bright spots are dusty cocoons containing massive forming stars, each one up to ten times the mass of our own sun.
PIA16871:
Herschel's Cool Universe (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (48.27 MB)     JPEG (1.26 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-27 NuSTAR
XMM-Newton
 3000x2400x3
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
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.61 MB)     JPEG (367.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-27 NuSTAR
XMM-Newton
 3600x2400x3
Scientists measure the spin rates of supermassive black holes by spreading the X-ray light into different colors. The light comes from accretion disks that swirl around black holes, as shown in both of the artist's concepts.
PIA16697:
Two Models of Black Hole Spin (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.93 MB)     JPEG (379.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-27 NuSTAR
XMM-Newton
 3600x2400x3
Black holes are tremendous objects whose immense gravity can distort and twist space-time, the fabric that shapes our universe as this chart from NASA's NuSTAR and ESA's XMM-Newton telescope illustrates.
PIA16696:
How to Measure the Spin of a Black Hole (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.93 MB)     JPEG (347.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-27 NuSTAR
 4400x2475x3
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 2013-02-20 Kepler
 3600x1895x3
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)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (20.47 MB)     JPEG (204.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-20 Kepler
 1067x600x3
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)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.922 MB)     JPEG (101.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-07 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
 3000x1800x3
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
Full Resolution:     TIFF (16.21 MB)     JPEG (290.6 kB)
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
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.621 MB)     JPEG (80 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-02-05 Orion Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 5401x5400x3
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
 2711x2920x3
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 2013-01-28 M31 Herschel Space Observatory
 SPIRE
 2800x1575x3
The ring-like swirls of dust filling the Andromeda galaxy stand out colorfully in this new image from the Herschel Space Observatory.
PIA16681:
Andromeda's Colorful Rings
Full Resolution:     TIFF (13.24 MB)     JPEG (368 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-22 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
 625x643x3
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
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.206 MB)     JPEG (35.67 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-10 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 2500x1380x3
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)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (10.35 MB)     JPEG (161.1 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-10 ESO Very Large Telescope
Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
Spitzer Space Telescope
 5000x2812x3
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 2013-01-09 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
 826x485x3
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 2013-01-08 Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
 4268x2400x3
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 2013-01-08 Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
 4268x2400x3
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 2013-01-07 Cassiopeia A NuSTAR
 NuSTAR
 2200x2200x3
This new view of the historical supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, located 11,000 light-years away, was taken by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. While the star is long dead, its remains are still bursting with action.
PIA16606:
Sizzling Remains of a Dead Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (14.53 MB)     JPEG (408.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-07 NuSTAR
 NuSTAR
 1700x1700x3
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 2012-12-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
 4015x3637x3
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 2012-12-13 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
Very Large Space Telescope (VLT)
 3600x3600x3
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 2012-12-06 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 3000x2000x3
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 2012-12-03 Sol (our sun) Voyager
 1280x720x3
This image from a set of animations show NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft exploring a new region in our solar system called the 'magnetic highway'.
PIA16486:
Voyager 1 Explores the "Magnetic Highway" Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.766 MB)     JPEG (61.38 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-12-03 Sol (our sun) Voyager
 1000x973x3
This artist's concept shows the different expected directions of the magnetic fields in interstellar space (black lines) and the magnetic field emanating from our sun (white lines) as NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft travels northward out of the heliosphere.
PIA16485:
Solar and Interstellar Magnetic Fields (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.92 MB)     JPEG (98.65 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-12-03 Sol (our sun) Voyager
 1772x975x3
This artist's concept shows plasma flows around NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft as it approaches interstellar space. Voyager 1's low-energy charged particle instrument detects the speed of the wind of plasma, or hot ionized gas, streaming off the sun.
PIA16483:
Plasma Flow Near Voyager 1 (Artist Animation) Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.731 MB)     JPEG (117.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-12-03 Sol (our sun) Voyager
 Magnetometer
 2006x1479x3
This artist's concept shows how NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is bathed in solar wind from the southern hemisphere flowing northward. This phenomenon creates a layer of giant bubble of solar ions just inside the outer boundary of the heliosphere.
PIA16482:
The Sun's Southern Wind Flows Northward (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (8.904 MB)     JPEG (151.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-11-28 Herschel Space Observatory
 Herschel Telescope
 1000x699x3
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 2012-11-21 Planck
 Planck Space Telescope
 3564x3571x3
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 2012-11-15 Hubble Space Telescope
 Advanced Camera for Surveys
WFC3
 1578x1520x3
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 2012-11-14 Herschel Space Observatory
XMM-Newton
 PACS
SPIRE
XMM-Newton X-ray
 3234x2248x3
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 2012-11-07 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Isaac Newton Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
 3600x3600x3
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 2012-11-01 Spitzer Space Telescope
 2100x2429x3
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 2012-10-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
 3600x2400x3
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 2012-10-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
 2847x1422x3
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 2012-10-23 NuSTAR
 NuSTAR
Spitzer Space Telescope
 4000x2400x3
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
 3202x2402x3
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 2012-10-15 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 3000x2400x3
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 2012-10-03 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
 6019x6019x3
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 2012-10-03 Spitzer Space Telescope
 Spitzer Space Telescope
 3000x2400x3
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
 4444x2500x3
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 2012-09-18 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 2012-09-15 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 2012-09-15 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 2012-09-11 Exoplanet
 3600x2400x3
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 2012-08-31 Sol (our sun) SDO
 Atmosphere Imaging Assembly
 691x720x3
Sparked by a medium-sized (C-class) flare, a long, magnetic filament burst out from the Sun, producing one of the best shows that SDO has seen (Aug. 31, 2012).
PIA18167:
Magnificent Outburst Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.493 MB)     JPEG (66.48 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 2012-08-29 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 2400x1740x3
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
 3000x2400x3
This image is a portion of the all-sky survey from NASA's WISE. It highlights the first of about 1,000 'hot DOGs' found by the mission (magenta circle). Hot DOGs are hot dust-obscured galaxies and are among the most powerful galaxies known.
PIA15814:
Homing in on 'Hot Dogs'
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.61 MB)     JPEG (758.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-08-29 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 6500x4500x3
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
 6500x3500x3
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
 2100x2100x3
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
 6500x4500x3
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
 6500x3500x3
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 2012-08-15 Messier 100 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
MIPS
 1016x1016x3
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
 1016x1016x3
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 2012-07-18 Spitzer Space Telescope
 5120x2880x3
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 2012-07-09 Adaptive Optics System and Coronagraph
 1123x563x3
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 2012-07-02 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 5525x5535x3
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 2012-06-28 NuSTAR
 NuSTAR
 1366x1024x3
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 2012-06-26 Hubble Space Telescope
 Advanced Camera for Surveys
WFC3
 1485x1045x3
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 2012-06-19 Hubble Space Telescope
 WFC3
 761x761x3
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 2012-06-08 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 4000x2400x3
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 2012-06-07 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
 2824x732x3
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 2012-05-23 Spitzer Space Telescope
 2299x2299x3
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 2012-05-21 Kepler
 1500x1200x3
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 2012-05-17 Herschel Space Observatory
 SPIRE
 6898x3880x3
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 Helix Nebula Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
 2920x2920x3
NGC 7293, better known as the Helix nebula, displays its ultraviolet glow courtesy of NASA's GALEX. The Helix is the nearest example of a planetary nebula, which is the eventual fate of a star, like our own Sun, as it approaches the end of its life.
PIA15658:
NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.58 MB)     JPEG (884.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-16 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 2016x2016x3
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 2012-05-16 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 4500x3375x3
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 CW Leo Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
 8000x5000x3
A runaway star, called CW Leo, plowing through the depths of space and piling up interstellar material before it, can be seen in this ultraviolet image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer.
PIA15417:
CW Leo
Full Resolution:     TIFF (120 MB)     JPEG (8.366 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-16 M31 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
 9400x7000x3
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 2012-05-11 Cygnus-X Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
SPIRE
 5897x2151x3
This new view of the Cygnus-X star-formation region by ESA's Herschel Space Observatory highlights chaotic networks of dust and gas that point to sites of massive star formation.
PIA15626:
Cygnus-X: The Cool Swan Glowing in Flight
Full Resolution:     TIFF (38.05 MB)     JPEG (963.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-09 Herschel Space Observatory
 4500x3600x3
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 2012-05-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
 3600x2100x3
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
 1916x1076x3
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
 3000x2400x3
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
 3000x2400x3
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 2012-05-02 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 900x950x3
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 2012-04-26 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 IRAS
 2240x2240x3
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 2012-04-24 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
 1970x2400x3
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
 1970x2400x3
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
 3600x2880x3
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 2012-04-12 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 3150x3150x3
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 2012-04-12 Herschel Space Observatory
 2360x2359x3
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 2012-04-04 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
SPIRE
XMM-Newton
 934x956x3
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 2012-04-04 Herschel Space Observatory
 PACS
SPIRE
 934x956x3
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 2012-04-03 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
 1130x1130x3
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 2012-03-29 SOFIA
 FORCAST
 1512x2019x3
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 2012-03-22 Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
 Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
 6000x6000x3
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 2012-03-16 Hubble Space Telescope
 WFC3
 1057x528x3
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's sharp view was used to look for gravitational arcs and rings which are produced when one galaxy acts as a lens to magnify and distort the appearance of another galaxy behind it.
PIA15418:
Quasar Lenses
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.677 MB)     JPEG (61.94 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-14 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 10000x5000x3
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
 10000x5030x3
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 2012-03-14 Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
 WISE Telescope
 5400x4500x3
Listed as Cassiopeia A, this remnant of the supernova is one of the brightest radio sources in the known universe. More recently, NASA's WISE telescope detected infrared echoes of the flash of light rippling outwards from the supernova.
PIA15480:
Echoes of a Stellar Ending
Full Resolution:     TIFF (72.9 MB)     JPEG (2.817 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-03-08 Spitzer Space Telescope
 IRAC
 3000x2400x3
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)
Retrieve Previous Set  Jump to a Previous Set   Jump to a Previous Set   Jump to a Previous Set   Jump to a Previous Set   Jump to a Previous Set   Current Set   Jump to a Following Set   Jump to a Following Set   Jump to a Following Set   Jump to a Following Set   Retrieve Next Set 
 1-100   101-200   201-300   301-400   401-500   501-600   601-700   701-800   801-900   901-1000 
Currently displaying images: 561 - 660 of 1314