NASA’s 5 never-seen-before images of Sun, stars, galaxies and stellar universe

NASA images: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) collection of these five stunning star images depicting the breathtaking beauty of the cosmos. The never-seen-before images of the Sun, Andromeda galaxy, and nebulae using specialised telescopes that capture infrared light reveal the dynamic and intricate structures of stellar universe.

Sun

NASA released this composite image of the Sun captured by three telescopes. The three NASA telescopes behind this magnificent picture of the sun are Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), X-ray Telescope (XRT) and Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA). The image was produced using high-energy X-ray data, lower energy X-ray data and ultraviolet light captured by these instruments.

NuSTAR is equipped with the capacity to capture "high-energy X-rays" while Hinode's XRT and SDO's AIA detect wavelengths emitted across the entire face of the Sun.

Orion Nebula

Orion Nebula's new infrared image produced by using previously released data from three telescopes shows only dust and no stars. The image shows, "Two enormous caverns carved out by unseen giant stars that can release up to a million times more light than our Sun." A pair of cavities is created as can be seen in the picture due to radiation that broke away dust grains there. The description to the image states, “Blue light indicates warm dust heated by unseen massive stars.” Meanwhile, the greenish hue is from slightly cooler dust.

Eagle Nebula

NASA's Wide Field Survey Explorer (WISE) is behind this dusty face of the Eagle Nebula. This picture captures star formation region using infrared lights which is about 5,700 light years away from Earth. In the image the entire structure of the nebula can be seen surrounding the “Pillars of Creation” that appears in faint yellow-green colour inside the white circle.

Andromeda Galaxy

NASA's Andromeda galaxy image, called M31, has been produced by using data from the ESA (European Space Agency) Herschel mission, the ESA's retired Planck observatory and two retired NASA missions, including the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). The spectacular image shows structures of dust clouds in the galaxy in high resolution. The image description states, “Red indicates hydrogen gas; green indicates cold dust; and warmer dust is shown in blue.”

Godzilla Nebula

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this breathtaking colourful image of Godzilla Nebula using infrared light that shows a cloud of gas and dust in space which is about 7,800 light-years from Earth. The outlines of Godzilla is distinctly visible in the image and the bright region in the lower left is known as W33. “Dust and organic molecules called hydrocarbons appear green; and warm dust that's been heated by stars or supernovae (exploding stars) appears red,” according to NASA.