NGC 4565

This image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows NGC 4565, one of the nearest and brightest galaxies not included in the famous list by 18th-century comet hunter Charles Messier.

From Earth, we have an edge-on view of this galaxy, located about 30 to 50 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices.

The galaxy is very nearly perpendicular to our own Milky Way galaxy and is situated near the galactic pole. It is more luminous than the Andromeda galaxy, and if our view had been face-on, it would have been one of the most spectacular galaxies in the sky.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NGC 6744

This image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows NGC 6744, one of the galaxies most similar to our Milky Way in the local universe. This ultraviolet view highlights the vast extent of the fluffy spiral arms, and demonstrates that star formation can occur in the outer regions of galaxies.

The galaxy is situated in the constellation of Pavo at a distance of about 30 million light-years.

NGC 6744 is bigger than the Milky Way, with a disk stretching 175,000 light-years across. A small, distorted companion galaxy is located nearby, which is similar to our galaxy's Large Magellanic Cloud. This companion, called NGC 6744A, can be seen as a blob in the main galaxy's outer arm, at upper right.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Supernova Remnant G1.9+0.3

G1.9+0.3: A supernova remnant in the Milky Way located about 28,000 light years from Earth

A new Chandra observation is providing important details about the most recent supernova known to have exploded in the Milky Way. The explosion would have been visible from Earth a little more than a hundred years ago if it had not been heavily obscured by dust and gas. G1.9+0.3 was most likely created when a white dwarf star underwent a thermonuclear detonation and was destroyed – either after merging with another white dwarf or by pulling too much material from an orbiting companion star. The Chandra data show that most of the X-ray emission is “synchrotron radiation,” produced by extremely energetic electrons accelerated in the rapidly expanding blast wave of the supernova. The new X-ray study also reveals that the explosion that created G1.9+0.3 was asymmetrical and unusually energetic.

Scale: Image is 8 arcmin (About 60 light years).

Image credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/NCSU/K.Borkowski et al.); Optical (DSS).

Note: For more information, see G1.9+0.3: The Remarkable Remains of a Recent Supernova.

Asteroid 2013 MZ5

Asteroid 2013 MZ5 as seen by the University of Hawaii's PanSTARR-1 telescope. In this animated gif, the asteroid moves relative to a fixed background of stars. Asteroid 2013 MZ5 is in the right of the first image, towards the top, moving diagonally left/down.

Image credit: PS-1/UH

Note: For more information, see Ten Thousandth Near-Earth Object Unearthed in Space; also, Ten Thousandth Near-Earth Object Discovered.

More Exoplanets Discovered Around Gliese 667

This picture shows the sky around multiple star Gliese 667. The bright star at the center is Gliese 667 A and B, the two main components of the system, which cannot be separated in this image. Gliese 667C, the third component, is visible as a bright star, very close and just under A and B, still in the glare of these brighter stars. The very subtle wobbles of Gliese 667C, measured with high precision spectrographs including HARPS, revealed it is surrounded by a full planetary system, with up to seven planets.

Note that this image was assembled from two photographic plates taken years apart through different colored filters. During that time, the motion of the nearby stars Gliese 667AB and C was sufficient for them to appear doubled in this picture, with one red and one blue image of each star.

This picture also shows two regions of star formation, much further from Earth than Gliese 667. At the upper-left NGC 6357 is visible and towards the bottom of the picture NGC 6334 (The Cat’s Paw Nebula).

Photo credit: ESO

Note: For more information, see Three Planets in Habitable Zone of Nearby Star.

MRK 1034

Looking towards the constellation of Triangulum (The Triangle), in the northern sky, lies the galaxy pair MRK 1034. The two very similar galaxies, named PGC 9074 and PGC 9071, are close enough to one another to be bound together by gravity, although no gravitational disturbance can yet be seen in the image. These objects are probably only just beginning to interact gravitationally.

Both are spiral galaxies, and are presented to our eyes face-on, so we are able to appreciate their distinctive shapes. On the left of the image, spiral galaxy PGC 9074 shows a bright bulge and two spiral arms tightly wound around the nucleus, features which have led scientists to classify it as a type Sa galaxy. Close by, PGC 9071 — a type Sb galaxy — although very similar and almost the same size as its neighbor, has a fainter bulge and a slightly different structure to its arms: their coils are further apart.

The spiral arms of both objects clearly show dark patches of dust obscuring the light of the stars lying behind, mixed with bright blue clusters of hot, recently-formed stars. Older, cooler stars can be found in the glowing, compact yellowish bulge towards the center of the galaxy. The whole structure of each galaxy is surrounded by a much fainter round halo of old stars, some residing in globular clusters.

Gradually, these two neighbors will attract each other, the process of star formation will be increased and tidal forces will throw out long tails of stars and gas. Eventually, after maybe hundreds of millions of years, the structures of the interacting galaxies will merge together into a new, larger galaxy.

The images combined to create this picture were captured by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).

Photo credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

Earth as a Pale Blue Dot and Saturn's Silhouette

With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world.

This marvelous panoramic view was created by combining a total of 165 images taken by the Cassini wide-angle camera over nearly three hours on September 15, 2006. The full mosaic consists of three rows of nine wide-angle camera footprints; only a portion of the full mosaic is shown here. Color in the view was created by digitally compositing ultraviolet, infrared and clear filter images and was then adjusted to resemble natural color.

The mosaic images were acquired as the spacecraft drifted in the darkness of Saturn's shadow for about 12 hours, allowing a multitude of unique observations of the microscopic particles that compose Saturn's faint rings.

Ring structures containing these tiny particles brighten substantially at high phase angles: i.e., viewing angles where the sun is almost directly behind the objects being imaged.

During this period of observation Cassini detected two new faint rings: one coincident with the shared orbit of the moons Janus and Epimetheus, and another coincident with Pallene's orbit. (See PIA08322 and PIA08328 for more on the two new rings.)

The narrowly confined G ring is easily seen here, outside the bright main rings. Encircling the entire system is the much more extended E ring. The icy plumes of Enceladus, whose eruptions supply the E ring particles, betray the moon's position in the E ring's left-side edge.

Interior to the G ring and above the brighter main rings is the pale dot of Earth. Cassini views its point of origin from over a billion kilometers (and close to a billion miles) away in the icy depths of the outer solar system. See PIA08324 for a similar view of Earth taken during this observation.

Small grains are pushed about by sunlight and electromagnetic forces. Hence, their distribution tells much about the local space environment.

A second version of the mosaic view is presented here in which the color contrast is greatly exaggerated. In such views, imaging scientists have noticed color variations across the diffuse rings that imply active processes sort the particles in the ring according to their sizes.

Looking at the E ring in this color-exaggerated view, the distribution of color across and along the ring appears to be different between the right side and the left. Scientists are not sure yet how to explain these differences, though the difference in phase angle between right and left may be part of the explanation. The phase angle is about 179 degrees on Saturn.

The main rings are overexposed in a few places.

This view looks toward the unlit side of the rings from about 15 degrees above the ringplane.

Cassini was approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn when the images in this mosaic were taken. Image scale on Saturn is about 260 kilometers (162 miles) per pixel.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Note: For more information, see Cassini Probe to Take Photo of Earth From Deep Space; also, Cassini to Photograph Earth From Deep Space.

Rocknest in Gale Crater

This image is a scaled-down version of a full-circle view which combined nearly 900 images taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The Full-Res TIFF and Full-Res JPEG provided in the top right legend are smaller resolution versions of the 1.3 billion pixel version for easier browser viewing and downloading. Viewers can explore the full-circle image with pan and zoom controls at http://mars.nasa.gov/bp1/.

The view is centered toward the south, with north at both ends. It shows Curiosity at the "Rocknest" site where the rover scooped up samples of windblown dust and sand. Curiosity used three cameras to take the component images on several different days between October 5 and November 16, 2012.

This first NASA-produced gigapixel image from the surface of Mars is a mosaic using 850 frames from the telephoto camera of Curiosity's Mast Camera instrument, supplemented with 21 frames from the Mastcam's wider-angle camera and 25 black-and-white frames -- mostly of the rover itself -- from the Navigation Camera. It was produced by the Multiple-Mission Image Processing Laboratory (MIPL) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

This version of the panorama retains "raw" color, as seen by the camera on Mars under Mars lighting conditions. A white-balanced version is available at PIA16918. The view shows illumination effects from variations in the time of day for pieces of the mosaic. It also shows variations in the clarity of the atmosphere due to variable dustiness during the month while the images were acquired.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory project is using Curiosity and the rover's 10 science instruments to investigate the environmental history within Gale Crater, a location where the project has found that conditions were long ago favorable for microbial life.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Note: For more information, see Billion-Pixel View of Mars Comes From Curiosity Rover.

ARP 142

This image shows the two galaxies interacting. NGC 2936, once a standard spiral galaxy, and NGC 2937, a smaller elliptical, bear a striking resemblance to a penguin guarding its egg. This image is a combination of visible and infrared light, created from data gathered by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 3 (WFC3).

Photo credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Note: For more information, see Hubble Spots Galaxies in Close Encounter.

Artist's Impression of the Surroundings of the Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 3783

This artist’s impression shows the surroundings of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the active galaxy NGC 3783 in the southern constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). New observations using the Very Large Telescope Interferometer at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile have revealed not only the torus of hot dust around the black hole but also a wind of cool material in the polar regions.

Illustration credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Note: For more information, see Dusty Surprise Around Giant Black Hole.

Venus

False-color image of cloud features seen on Venus by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on Venus Express. The image was captured from a distance of 30,000 km on 8 December 2011.

The VMC was designed and built by a consortium of German institutes lead by the Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau.

Photo credit: ESA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Note: For more information, see Super-Hurricane-Force Winds on Venus are Getting Stronger.

Messier 61

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this image of nearby spiral galaxy Messier 61, also known as NGC 4303. The galaxy, located only 55 million light-years away from Earth, is roughly the size of the Milky Way, with a diameter of around 100,000 light-years. The galaxy is notable for one particular reason — six supernovae have been observed within Messier 61, a total that places it in the top handful of galaxies alongside Messier 83, also with six, and NGC 6946, with a grand total of nine observed supernovae.

In this Hubble image the galaxy is seen face-on as if posing for a photograph, allowing us to study its structure closely. The spiral arms can be seen in stunning detail, swirling inwards to the very center of the galaxy, where they form a smaller, intensely bright spiral. In the outer regions, these vast arms are sprinkled with bright blue regions where new stars are being formed from hot, dense clouds of gas.

Messier 61 is part of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, a massive group of galaxies in the constellation of Virgo (the Virgin). Galaxy clusters, or groups of galaxies, are among the biggest structures in the Universe to be held together by gravity alone. The Virgo Cluster contains more than 1300 galaxies and forms the central region of the Local Supercluster, an even bigger gathering of galaxies.

The image was taken using data from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 2.

Photo credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgements: G. Chapdelaine, L. Limatola, and R. Gendler.

Ligeia Mare

Ligeia Mare, shown here in a false-color image from the international Cassini mission, is the second largest known body of liquid on Saturn's moon Titan. It measures roughly 420 km x 350 km and its shorelines extend for over 3,000 km. It is filled with liquid hydrocarbons, such as ethane and methane.

The mosaic shown here is composed from synthetic aperture radar images from flybys between February 2006 and April 2007.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/Cornell

NGC 253, the Sculptor Galaxy

The Sculptor galaxy is seen in a new light, in this composite image from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Southern Observatory in Chile. Visible data from the European Space Observatory show the backbone of the galaxy made up of stars, while NuSTAR data, which appear as colored blobs, show high-energy X-rays. The NuSTAR observations are the sharpest ever taken of this galaxy in high-energy X-rays.

The findings, when combined with those from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, suggest that the supermassive black hole at the center of the Sculptor galaxy, also known as NGC 253, has dozed off, or gone inactive, sometime in the past decade. Future observations from both telescopes should help address this mystery.

The NuSTAR data also reveals a flaring source of high-energy X-rays, called an ultraluminous X-ray source, or ULX. This object, which appears as a blue spot near the hotter, central region of the galaxy, is either a black hole or a dense, dead star, called a neutron star, feeding off a partner star. The flare is thought to be the result of a change in the object's feeding patterns.

The other orange and reddish points are likely additional X-ray-generating pairs of stars located throughout the galaxy.

In this image, red shows low-energy X-ray radiation (3 to 7 kiloelectron volts), green is medium energy (7 to 10 kiloelectron volts), and blue is high energy (10 to 20 kiloelectron volts).

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHU

Note: For more information, see Black Hole Naps Amidst Stellar Chaos.

IRAS 22491-1808 - The South America Galaxy

The contorted object captured by Hubble in this picture is IRAS 22491-1808, also known as the South America Galaxy. It is an ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) that emits a huge amount of light at infrared wavelengths. The reason for this intense infrared emission lies in an episode of strong star formation activity, which was set off by a collision between two interacting galaxies.

In this image the twisted shape hides a number of features. In the central region, which is very complex and disturbed, scientists have been able to distinguish two nuclei, remains of the two different galaxies that are currently colliding to form a new one. IRAS 22491-1808 is amongst the most luminous of these types of galaxies, and is considered to be mid-way through its merging stage.

The center of this appealing object also shows several intense star-forming knots which, as seen in the picture, actually outshine the nuclei in optical wavelengths. To pick out the two merging nuclei in IRAS 22491-1808, scientists have had to observe it in infrared wavelengths, where they are more distinct.

Other traces of the galactic collision are the three very noticeable tails in the image — two linear and one circular. The tail extending towards the bottom of the image from the main body exhibits a red clump of star formation at its base.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

NGC 3766

This spectacular group of young stars is the open star cluster NGC 3766 in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). Very careful observations of these stars by a group from the Geneva Observatory using the Swiss 1.2-meter Leonhard Euler Telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile have shown that 36 of the stars are of a new and unknown class of variable star.

This image was taken with the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory.

Photo credit: ESO

Note: For more information, see New Kind of Variable Star Discovered.

New Black Holes Discovered in Messier 31

M31: A spiral galaxy located 2.5 million light years from our own.

Twenty-six black hole candidates – the largest number found in a galaxy outside our own – have been discovered in the Milky Way's galactic neighbor, Andromeda. Using over 150 Chandra observations spread over 13 years, researchers identified the bonanza of stellar-mass black holes, that is, those that form from the collapse of a giant star and typically have masses between five and ten times that of the Sun. This composite graphic shows the Chandra view of the central region of Andromeda, also known as M31, as inset (purple) in context with an optical image (red, green, and blue) of this spiral galaxy. It is expected that billions of years in the future, the Milky Way and Andromeda will collide and many more black holes will be created.

Scale: Optical image is 2 degrees across (about 100,000 light years); inset image is 14 arcmin across (about 12,000 light years).

Image credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/SAO/R.Barnard, Z.Lee et al.), Optical (NOAO/AURA/NSF/REU Prog./B.Schoening, V.Harvey; Descubre Fndn./CAHA/OAUV/DSA/V.Peris)

Molecular Gas Across the Milky Way's Plane

This illustration shows the distribution of molecular gas across the plane of the Milky Way. Molecular gas is the raw material from which stars form and consists mainly of molecular hydrogen (H2), a gas that does not emit any light at the low temperatures found in molecular clouds.

The most widely used proxy to track down molecular gas in star-forming regions is carbon monoxide (CO). A mere contaminant in molecular clouds, CO radiates much more efficiently than H2 and can be detected easily. Observations of CO indicate that molecular gas is most concentrated in the innermost regions of the Galaxy, peaking at a radius of about 13,000 light-years, and declining in density at greater distances. The distribution of molecular gas across the Galaxy as traced by CO is indicated in blue.

However, such indirect tracers can be biased, since there is no guarantee that all portions of a cloud containing H2 also contain CO, in which case observations of CO would miss these regions entirely. To achieve a more complete picture of the Milky Way's molecular content, astronomers have combined observations of CO with other tracers of H2. These studies suggest the presence of more molecular gas in the Milky Way than indicated by CO alone.

New data from ESA's Herschel Space Observatory are now confirming that almost one third of all molecular gas in the Milky Way had remained undetected. The new survey, which probes H2 through a different tracer – ionized carbon (C+) – not only uncovered this hidden pool of material for potential future stars, but also revealed that it is distributed in a curious way.

The CO-dark H2 detected with Herschel is mostly located in a ring surrounding the center of the Galaxy at radii between 13,000 and 36,000 light-years. The distribution of molecular gas as traced by C+ is indicated in red and extends much farther than that of CO-traced molecular gas.

Illustration credit: ESA - C. Carreau

Note: For more information, see There is More Gas in the Galaxy Than is Dreamt of by Astronomers; also, Shining a Light on Cool Pools of Gas in the Galaxy.

Messier 101

The face-on spiral galaxy M101, or the Pinwheel Galaxy, is seen at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths in this image taken by ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescope.

The picture is composed of images taken by XMM-Newton’s Optical Monitor telescope using different filters: red (200–400 nm), green (200–300 nm) and blue (175–275 nm).

Image credit: ESA/XMM & R. Willatt

Hierarchical Bubble Structure

This infrared image shows a striking example of what is called a hierarchical bubble structure, in which one giant bubble, carved into the dust of space by massive stars, has triggered the formation of smaller bubbles. The large bubble takes up the central region of the picture while the two spawned bubbles, which can be seen in yellow, are located within its rim.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope took this image in infrared light. The multiple bubble family was found by volunteers participating in the Milky Way Project. This citizen science project, a part of the Zooniverse group, allows anybody with a computer and an Internet connection to help astronomers sift through Spitzer images in search of bubbles blown into the fabric of our Milky Way galaxy.

The bubbles are formed by radiation and winds from massive stars, which carve out holes within surrounding dust clouds. As the material is swept away, it is thought to sometimes trigger the formation of new massive stars, which in turn, blow their own bubbles.

The images in the Milky Way project are from Spitzer's Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire, or Glimpse, project, which is mapping the plane of our galaxy from all directions. As of June 2013, 130 degrees of the sky have been released. The full 360-degree view, which includes the outer reaches of our galaxy located away from its center, is expected soon.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Wisconsin

Note: For more information, see NASA's Spitzer Sees Milky Way's Blooming Countryside.

Kasei Valles

This mosaic, which features the spectacular Kasei Valles, comprises 67 images taken with the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express. The mosaic spans 987 km north–south (19–36°N) and 1550 km east–west (280–310°E).

Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Comet Factory in Stellar System Oph-IRS 48

This artist’s impression shows the dust trap in the system Oph-IRS 48. The dust trap provides a safe haven for the tiny rocks in the disc, allowing them to clump together and grow to sizes that allow them to survive on their own.

Illustration credit: ESO/L. Calçada

Note: For more information, see ALMA Discovers Comet Factory.

Planum Boreum

The north polar ice cap of Mars, presented as a mosaic of 57 separate images from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express. The ice cap spans approximately 1000 km and is seen here in polar stereographic projection. The images were taken throughout the entire mission, when Mars Express was at its closest to Mars along its orbit, at about 300-500 km altitude.

The mosaic was published as space science image of the week on the occasion of the tenth anniversary since the mission launched on 2 June 2003.

Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin–G. Neukum); image processing by F. Jansen (ESA)

NGC 1579

Unlike the venomous fictional plants that share its name, the Trifid of the North, otherwise known as the Northern Trifid or NGC 1579, poses no threat to your vision. The nebula’s moniker is inspired by the better-known Messier 20, the Trifid Nebula, which lies very much further south in the sky and displays strikingly similar swirling clouds of gas and dust.

The Trifid of the North is a large, dusty region that is currently forming new stars. These stars are very hot and therefore appear to be very blue. During their short lives they radiate strongly into the gas surrounding them, causing it to glow brightly. Many regions like the Trifid of the North — named H II regions — are clumpy and strangely shaped due to the powerful winds emanating from the stars within them. H II regions also have relatively short lives, furiously forming baby stars until the immense winds from these bodies blow the gas and dust away, leaving just stars behind.

The image above, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the bright body of the nebula, with dark dust lanes snaking across the frame. The Trifid of the North glows strongly due to the many stars within it, like young binary EM* LkHA 101. Visible to the bottom right of the image, this binary is thought to be surrounded by a hundred or so fainter and less massive stars, making up a recently formed cluster. It lies behind a cloud of dust so thick that it is almost invisible to astronomers at optical wavelengths. Infrared imaging has now penetrated this dusty veil and is uncovering the secrets of this binary star, which is about five thousand times brighter than our own Sun.

Photo credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: Bruno Conti

Exoplanet HD95086 b

This image from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) shows the newly discovered planet HD95086 b, next to its parent star. The observations were made using NACO, the adaptative optics instrument for the VLT in infrared light, and using a technique called differential imaging, which improves the contrast between the planet and its dazzling host star. The star itself has been removed from the picture during processing to enhance the view of the faint exoplanet and its position is marked. The exoplanet appears at the lower left.

The blue circle is the size of the orbit of Neptune in the Solar System.

The star HD 95086 has similar properties to Beta Pictoris and HR 8799 around which giant planets have previously been imaged at separations between 8 and 68 astronomical units. These stars are all young, more massive than the Sun, and surrounded by a debris disc.

Image credit: ESO/J. Rameau

Note: For more information, see Lightest Exoplanet Imaged So Far?

Asteroid Family's Shattered Past

This artist's conception shows how families of asteroids are created. Over the history of our solar system, catastrophic collisions between asteroids located in the belt between Mars and Jupiter have formed families of objects on similar orbits around the sun.

New data from NASA's NEOWISE project, based on observations made by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), have revealed the sizes and reflectivity of members of these asteroids families. The findings are helping scientists better understand how the families formed and evolved.

NEOWISE is the asteroid-hunting portion of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, mission, which scanned the entire sky twice in infrared light before entering hibernation mode in 2011.

Illustration credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Note: For more information, see NASA's WISE Mission Finds Lost Asteroid Family Members and New Asteroid Families Discovered.