Usually seen in shades of gray, this composite photo of the Moon is a riot of reds, oranges, and blues. These unusual colors help scientists study what the Moon’s soil is made of.
Photo: NASA
This is a galaxy cluster with two streams of superheated gas crossing one another. This comet-like tail of hot gas trailing behind split into two streams as the galaxy hurtled through space.
Photo: NASA Chandra X-ray
The bright star taking center stage is a Wolf-Rayet star, located about 30,000 light-years away in the 'Carina' constellation. The blue bubble surrounding it is a Wolf-Rayet nebula.
Photo: NASA
Research suggests that the stars at the center of this cluster are about 200,000 years old, while those on the outskirts are about 1.5 million years of age.
Photo: NASA
45 million light-years from Earth, this galaxy has patches of glowing pink spots, signs of nebulae where new stars are being formed, tucked within its winding spiral arms.
Photo: NASA
This image of a pair of galaxies – one elliptical (left) and the other spiral (right) – reveals the supermassive black hole at the center of the large spiral galaxy. As the black hole gobbles up surrounding gas and dust, that material heats up and lets out a tremendous amount of energy, making the galaxy’s core shine brightly.
Photo: NASA
Residing 7,100 light-years from Earth, the Bubble Nebula itself is a whopping 7 light-years across. The seething star that forms this nebula is 45 times more massive than our Sun!
Photo: NASA