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Addition DateSort Ascending Target Mission Instrument Size
Add Image to Favorite List 2022-11-22 Orion Nebula Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
Herschel Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
WISE Telescope
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This infrared image of the Orion Nebula features plenty of dust but no stars. In these infrared wavelengths, it's possible to see hot spots where new stars are forming, while unseen bright, massive stars have carved out caverns of empty space.
PIA25434:
Orion Nebula in Infrared
Full Resolution:     TIFF (108.7 MB)     JPEG (1.603 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2022-06-16 Herschel Space Observatory
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The Triangulum galaxy, or M33, is shown here in far-infrared and radio wavelengths of light.
PIA25165:
Triangulum Galaxy Imaged by Herschel, Planck, IRAS, COBE
Full Resolution:     TIFF (3.554 MB)     JPEG (124.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2022-06-16 Herschel Space Observatory
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The Small Magellanic Cloud is a satellite of the Milky Way, containing about 3 billion stars. This far-infrared and radio view of it shows the cool (green) and warm (blue) dust, as well as the hydrogen gas (red).
PIA25164:
Small Magellanic Cloud Imaged by Herschel, Planck, IRAS, COBE
Full Resolution:     TIFF (54.26 MB)     JPEG (1.546 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2022-06-16 Herschel Space Observatory
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The Andromeda galaxy, or M31, is shown here in far-infrared and radio wavelengths of light.
PIA25163:
Andromeda Galaxy Imaged by Herschel, Planck, IRAS, COBE
Full Resolution:     TIFF (40.82 MB)     JPEG (1.118 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2022-06-16 Herschel Space Observatory
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The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a satellite of the Milky Way, containing about 30 billion stars.
PIA25162:
Large Magellanic Cloud Imaged by Herschel, Planck, IRAS, COBE
Full Resolution:     TIFF (291.7 MB)     JPEG (6.089 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-10-12 Orion Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
HIFI
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The dusty side of the Sword of Orion is illuminated in this striking infrared image from the European Space Agency's Hershel Space Observatory.
PIA21073:
Ionized Carbon Atoms in Orion
Full Resolution:     TIFF (80.59 MB)     JPEG (1.376 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-05-27 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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New stars are the lifeblood of our galaxy, and there is enough material revealed by ESA's Herschel of the constellation Vulpecula (little fox) OB1. The giant stars at the heart of Vulpecula OB1 are some of the biggest in the galaxy.
PIA13500:
The Little Fox and the Giant Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (9.204 MB)     JPEG (393.2 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2016-01-07 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Herschel Space Observatory
Spitzer Space Telescope
Chandra X-ray Telescope
IRAC
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Astronomers have made the most detailed study yet of an extremely massive young galaxy cluster using three of NASA's Great Observatories. This rare galaxy cluster, located 10 billion light-years from Earth, is almost as massive as 500 trillion suns.
PIA20063:
Galaxy Cluster IDCS J1426
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.301 MB)     JPEG (258.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2015-05-28 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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This image from NASA's Herschel space observatory shows a filament called G49, which contains 80,000 suns' worth of mass. Long and flimsy threads emerge from a twisted mix of material, taking on complex shapes.
PIA19340:
Herschel's View of G49 Filament
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.153 MB)     JPEG (95.89 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-10-15 Herschel Space Observatory
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A small galaxy, called Sextans A, is shown here in a multi-wavelength mosaic captured by the ESA's Herschel mission. In this image, the purple shows gas; blue shows young stars and the orange and yellow dots are newly formed stars heating up dust.
PIA18846:
Sluggish Galaxy Grows Stars Slowly
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.304 MB)     JPEG (90.61 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-06-12 NGC 7538 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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The Herschel Space Observatory has uncovered a weird ring of dusty material while obtaining one of the sharpest scans to date of a huge cloud of gas and dust, called NGC 7538.
PIA18452:
A Puzzling Cosmic Ring
Full Resolution:     TIFF (10.65 MB)     JPEG (170.6 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2014-04-29 Herschel Space Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope
HIFI
WFC3
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The young galaxy SDSS090122.37+181432.3, also known as S0901, is seen here by the Herschel Space Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope as the bright arc to the left of the central bright galaxy.
PIA18004:
Smeared and Magnified Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.137 MB)     JPEG (93.48 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-12-12 Herschel Space Observatory
Hubble Space Telescope
PACS
WFPC2
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This image shows a composite view of the Crab nebula, an iconic supernova remnant in our Milky Way galaxy, as viewed by the Herschel Space Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.
PIA17563:
Crab Nebula, as Seen by Herschel and Hubble
Full Resolution:     TIFF (44.81 MB)     JPEG (1.205 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-06-11 Herschel Space Observatory
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This illustration shows a newfound reservoir of stellar fuel discovered by the Herschel space observatory.
PIA17243:
Mapping Invisible Pools of Gas in Our Galaxy (Illustration)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (27.01 MB)     JPEG (379.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-05-22 Herschel Space Observatory
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ESA's Herschel Space Observatory first spotted the colliding duo in images taken with longer-wavelength infrared light (left) with a close-up view at right, with merging galaxies circled.
PIA17013:
The Making of a Giant Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (10.8 MB)     JPEG (211.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-05-22 Herschel Space Observatory
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This frame from a simulation shows the merging of two massive galaxies. The merging galaxies are split into two views: a visible-light view on the left, and infrared view on the right.
PIA17012:
Mega Galaxy Merger Animation Icon
Full Resolution:     TIFF (2.758 MB)     JPEG (43.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-05-07 Herschel Space Observatory
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This artist's concept illustrates the frenzied activity at the core of our Milky Way galaxy. The galactic center hosts a supermassive black hole in the region known as Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*, with a mass of about four million times that of our sun.
PIA17009:
Hustle and Bustle at Center of Milky Way
Full Resolution:     TIFF (25.17 MB)     JPEG (500.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-04-17 Herschel Space Observatory
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This artist's impression shows the 'starburst' galaxy HFLS3. The galaxy appears as little more than a faint, red smudge in images from the Herschel space observatory.
PIA16887:
Artist's Impression of Starburst Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.917 MB)     JPEG (211.9 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-29 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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W3 is an enormous stellar nursery about 6,200 light-years away in the Perseus Arm, one of the Milky Way galaxy's main spiral arms as seen by ESA's Herschel space observatory.
PIA16883:
Churning Out Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (6.456 MB)     JPEG (182.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-03-19 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 2013-03-05 Rosette Nebula Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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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 2013-01-28 M31 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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In this new view of the Andromeda, also known as M31, galaxy from the Herschel space observatory, cool lanes of forming stars are revealed in the finest detail yet. M31 is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way at a distance of 2.5 million light-ye
PIA16682:
Cool Andromeda
Full Resolution:     TIFF (23.76 MB)     JPEG (510 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2013-01-28 M31 Herschel Space Observatory
SPIRE
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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
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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
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.206 MB)     JPEG (35.67 kB)
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 2013-01-08 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 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 2012-11-14 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 2012-05-17 Herschel Space Observatory
SPIRE
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ESA's Herschel Space Observatory has discovered a giant, galaxy-packed filament ablaze with billions of new stars. The filament connects two clusters of galaxies that, along with a third cluster, will smash together in several billion years.
PIA15659:
A Star-Bursting Filament
Full Resolution:     TIFF (80.29 MB)     JPEG (2.074 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2012-05-11 Cygnus-X Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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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
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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 2012-04-12 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 2012-04-04 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 2012-04-04 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 2012-02-29 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 2012-01-18 Herschel Space Observatory
XMM-Newton
PACS
SPIRE
XMM-Newton X-ray
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This image of the Eagle nebula shows the self-emission of the intensely cold nebula's gas and dust as never seen before; the nebula's intricate tendril nature, with vast cavities forms an almost cave-like surrounding to the famous pillars.
PIA15260:
Herschel Sees Through Ghostly Pillars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (5.493 MB)     JPEG (151 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 2011-10-20 Herschel Space Observatory
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This artist's concept, based on data from NASA's Herschel telescope, illustrates an icy planet-forming disk around a young star called TW Hydrae, located about 175 light-years away in the Hydra, or Sea Serpent, constellation.
PIA14870:
Misty Star in the Sea Serpent (Artist's Concept)
Full Resolution:     TIFF (21.6 MB)     JPEG (258.7 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 2011-07-19 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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This image from ESA's Herschel Space Observatory reveals a suspected ring at the center of our galaxy is warped for reasons scientists cannot explain. The ring is twisted so that part of it rises above and below the plane of our Milky Way galaxy.
PIA14400:
The Case of the Warped Galactic Ring
Full Resolution:     TIFF (18.77 MB)     JPEG (251.5 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-04-13 Herschel Space Observatory
Infrared Telescope
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Dense filaments of gas in the IC5146 interstellar cloud can be seen clearly in this image taken in infrared light by the Herschel space observatory. The blue region is a stellar nursery known as the Cocoon nebula.
PIA14038:
Star-Studded Strings around Cocoon Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (7.543 MB)     JPEG (112 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-02-17 Herschel Space Observatory
Infrared Telescope
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A region of the sky called the 'Lockman Hole,' located in the constellation of Ursa Major, is one of the areas surveyed in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory.
PIA13864:
Herschel's View of 'Lockman Hole'
Full Resolution:     TIFF (16.7 MB)     JPEG (1.012 MB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2011-01-05 Herschel Space Observatory
Infrared Telescope
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This mosaic of the Andromeda spiral galaxy highlights explosive stars in its interior, and cooler, dusty stars forming in its many rings. This is a combination of observations from the Herschel Space Observatory and the XMM-Newton telescope.
PIA13771:
Andromeda is So Hot 'n' Cold
Full Resolution:     TIFF (37.15 MB)     JPEG (859.3 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-11-04 Herschel Space Observatory
Infrared Telescope
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This image composite shows a warped and magnified view of a galaxy discovered by the Herschel Space Observatory, one of five such galaxies uncovered by the infrared telescope. The galaxy, referred to as 'SDP 81' is the yellow dot in the left image.
PIA13571:
Analyzing the Pieces of a Warped Galaxy
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12.08 MB)     JPEG (278.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-09-01 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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This ESA Herschel image shows IRC+10216, also known as CW Leonis, a star rich in carbon where astronomers were surprised to find water. This color-coded image shows the star, surrounded by a clumpy envelope of dust.
PIA13358:
Water Around a Carbon Star
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.906 MB)     JPEG (96.61 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-05-11 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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The dark hole seen in the green cloud at the top of this image, captured by ESA's Herschel Telescope, was likely carved out by multiple jets and blasts of radiation.
PIA13109:
Big Hole Revealed in Infrared
Full Resolution:     TIFF (5.193 MB)     JPEG (98.83 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-05-06 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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The large bubble is an embryonic star that looks set to turn into one of the brightest stars in our Milky Way galaxy in this infrared image from the Herschel Space Telescope.
PIA13102:
Galactic Bubble
Full Resolution:     TIFF (12 MB)     JPEG (184.7 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-05-06 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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This image from NASA's Herschel, was taken looking towards a region of our Milky Way galaxy in the Eagle constellation, closer to the galactic center than our sun. Here, we see the outstanding end products of the stellar assembly line.
PIA13101:
Bursting with Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (22.21 MB)     JPEG (417 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-05-06 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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This image from NASA's Herschel, in the constellation of Vulpecula, shows an entire assembly line of newborn stars. The diffuse glow reveals the widespread cold reservoir of raw material that our Milky Way galaxy has in stock for building stars.
PIA13100:
Assembly Line of Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (19.24 MB)     JPEG (524 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2010-04-12 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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This image from ESA's Herschel Space Observatory shows of a portion of the Rosette nebula, a stellar nursery about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the Monoceros, or Unicorn, constellation.
PIA13028:
Big Babies in the Rosette Nebula
Full Resolution:     TIFF (1.407 MB)     JPEG (56.69 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-10-02 Herschel Space Observatory
SPIRE
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In this infrared view from the Herschel Observatory, a European Space Agency mission, blue shows the warmest dust, and red, the coolest. The choppy clouds of gas and dust are just starting to condense into new stars.
PIA12253:
Dark Star-Making Factory
Full Resolution:     TIFF (42.23 MB)     JPEG (526.4 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-10-02 Herschel Space Observatory
SPIRE
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This image from the Herschel Observatory, a European Space Agency mission, reveals some of the coldest and darkest material in our galaxy. The yellow filaments show the coldest dust dotted with the youngest embryonic stars.
PIA12252:
Dark Wombs of Stars
Full Resolution:     TIFF (4.814 MB)     JPEG (115.8 kB)
Add Image to Favorite List 2009-10-02 Herschel Space Observatory
PACS
SPIRE
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Some of the coldest and darkest dust in space shines brightly in this infrared image from the Herschel Observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important participation from NASA.
PIA12251:
Awash with Infrared Light
Full Resolution:     TIFF (33.97 MB)     JPEG (537.5 kB)
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