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NGC 1637
NASA’s Webb Telescope Locates Former Star That Exploded as Supernova
The main image at left shows a view of spiral galaxy NGC 1637 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble’s shorter-wavelength data is represented in blue and green, while Webb’s longer-wavelength data is represented in green and red. Panels at the right show a...
Circinus Galaxy
Circinus Galaxy (Hubble and Webb)
This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows a full view of the Circinus galaxy, a nearby spiral galaxy about 13 million light-years away. The inset highlights a Webb close-up of the galaxy’s core, where infrared observations pierce through dust to reveal hot material feeding its central...
Helix Nebula
Helix Nebula (VISTA, Webb)
This image of the Helix Nebula from the Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (left) shows the full view of the planetary nebula, with a box highlighting the smaller field of view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (right).
Helix Nebula
Helix Nebula (NIRCam Image)
A new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of a portion of the Helix Nebula highlights comet-like knots, fierce stellar winds, and layers of gas shed off by a dying star interacting with its surrounding environment. Webb’s image also shows the stark transition between the hottest gas to...
Sextans A
Sextans A (NIRCam Only Image)
Images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of the dwarf galaxy Sextans A reveal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), large carbon-based molecules that can be a signifier of star formation. Sextans A is a nearby galaxy that is chemically primitive, meaning it has a very low content of...
Sextans A
Sextans A Unannotated (NIRCam and MIRI image)
Images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of the dwarf galaxy Sextans A reveal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), large carbon-based molecules that can be a signifier of star formation. Sextans A is a nearby galaxy that is chemically primitive, meaning it has a very low content of...
Sextans A
Sextans A Context image (Webb and KPNO)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s image of a portion of the nearby Sextans A galaxy is put into context using a ground-based image from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The image from Webb shows the galaxy in both near- and mid-infrared light, while...
Sextans A
Sextans A PAHs Pull-out (NIRCam and MIRI image)
Images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of the dwarf galaxy Sextans A reveal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), large carbon-based molecules that can be a signifier of star formation. The inset at the top right zooms in on those PAHs, which are represented in green. In Sextans A,...
CEERS
New Galaxy Population Pull-outs in CEERS Field (NIRCam Image)
Four of the nine galaxies in the newly identified “platypus” sample were discovered in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS). One key feature that makes them distinct is their point-like appearance, even to a telescope that can capture as much...
Egg Nebula
Egg Nebula
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals the clearest view yet of the Egg Nebula — a pre-planetary nebula of gas and dust created by a dying, Sun-like star. These newest observations, taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, include infrared data. Powerful beams of starlight blast out of the inner...
asteroid 2024 YR4
Asteroid 2024 YR4 (NIRCam and MIRI)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently captured these images of the asteroid 2024 YR4 using both its NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). Data from NIRCam shows reflected light, while the MIRI observations show thermal light. Using the NIRCam data, along with...
Sagittarius B2
Sagittarius B2 (MIRI Image)
Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows the Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) region in mid-infrared light, with warm dust glowing brightly. To the right is one clump of clouds that captured astronomers’ attention. It is redder than the rest of the clouds in the image and corresponds to an area that...
Sagittarius B2
Sagittarius B2 (NIRCam Image)
Stars, gas and cosmic dust in the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud glow in near-infrared light, captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). In this light, astronomers see more of the region’s diverse, colorful stars, but less of its gas and dust structure. Webb’s instruments each provide...
GRB 250702B
GRB 250314A Pull-out (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope identified the source of a super bright flash of light known as a gamma-ray burst: a supernova that exploded when the universe was only 730 million years old. Webb’s high-resolution near-infrared images also detected the supernova’s host galaxy. Its quick-turn...
Pismis 24
Pismis 24 (NIRCam Image)
Webb captured this sparkling scene of star birth in Pismis 24, a young star cluster about 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. This region is one of the best places to explore the properties of hot young stars and how they evolve.
Apep
Wolf-Rayet Apep (MIRI Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared image shows four coiled shells of dust around a pair of Wolf-Rayet stars known as Apep for the first time. Previous observations by other telescopes showed only one. (Watch a 3D visualization of the system). Webb’s data, combined with...
Sh2-284 p1
Stellar Jet in Sh2-284
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged an extremely large and symmetric protostellar jet at the outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy in the forming cluster Sh2-284. From tip to tip, this protostellar jet is 8 light-years across, about double the distance from our Sun to its closest...
Cat's Paw Nebula
Cat's Paw (NIRCam Image)
To celebrate NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s third year of highly productive science, astronomers used the telescope to scratch beyond the surface of the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), a massive, local star-forming region. This area is of great interest to scientists, having been subject to...
Sombrero Galaxy
Sombrero Galaxy (NIRCam/MIRI)
The Sombrero galaxy is split diagonally in this image: near-infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are at the top left, and mid-infrared observations from Webb are at the bottom right. The near-infrared image shows where dust from the outer ring blocks stellar light from...
Sombrero Galaxy
Sombrero Galaxy (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged the Sombrero Galaxy with its NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), which shows dust from the galaxy’s outer ring blocking stellar light from stars within the galaxy. In the central region of the galaxy, the roughly 2,000 globular clusters, or...
14 Herculis c
14 Herculis c (NIRCam)
This image of 14 Herculis c, a planet orbiting a star 60 light-years away from Earth, was taken with the coronagraph on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). A star symbol marks the location of the host star 14 Herculis, whose light has been blocked by the...
NGC 6072
NGC 6072 (MIRI Image)
The mid-infrared view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows expanding circular shells around the outflows from the dying central star, which astronomers suspect is that pinkish white dot at the center of the image. The longer wavelengths captured by Webb’s...
NGC 6072
NGC 6072 (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the near-infrared shows a complex scene of multiple outflows expanding out at different angles from a dying star at the center of the scene. There is one stretching from roughly 11 to 5 o’clock, another from 1 to 7...
Titan
Titan (Webb and Keck Image)
These images of Titan were taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on July 11, 2023 (top row) and the ground-based W.M. Keck Observatories on July 14, 2023 (bottom row). They show methane clouds appearing at different altitudes in Titan’s northern hemisphere. On the left side are...
Spiral Galaxies
Thin/Thick Galaxy Disks
NGC 1514
NGC 1514 (MIRI Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken the most detailed image of planetary nebula NGC 1514 to date thanks to its unique mid-infrared observations. Webb shows its rings as intricate clumps of dust. It’s also easier to see holes punched through the bright pink central region.
JADES
JADES-GS-z13-1 in the GOODS-S field (NIRCam)
The incredibly distant galaxy JADES-GS-z13-1, observed just 330 million years after the big bang, was initially discovered with deep imaging from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). Now, an international team of astronomers definitively has identified powerful...
Sagittarius A star
Milky Way Center Annotated (MeerKAT and Webb)
Labeling, compass arrows, and scale bars provide context for these MeerKAT and James Webb Space Telescope images. The star-forming region Sagittarius C, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, is about 200 light-years from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius...
HR 8799
Carbon Dioxide in Gas Giant Planet
This graph shows a spectrum of one of the planets in the HR 8799 system, HR 8799 e, which displays the amounts of near-infrared light detected from the planet by Webb at different wavelengths. The blue and yellow lines are a best-fit model for an atmosphere that would be either low or high in...
51 Eri
51 Eri (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured this image of Eridani 51 b, a cool, young exoplanet that orbits 890 million miles from its star, similar to Saturn’s orbit in our solar system. The observations detected the planet is rich in carbon dioxide, providing...
HR 8799
HR 8799 (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided the clearest look yet at the iconic multi-planet system HR 8799. The observations detected carbon dioxide in each of the planets, which provides strong evidence that the system’s four giant planets formed much like Jupiter and Saturn, by slowly...
HH 49/50
Herbig-Haro 49/50 (NIRCam and MIRI Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed Herbig-Haro 49/50, an outflow from a nearby still-forming star, in high-resolution near- and mid-infrared light. The young star is off to the lower right corner of the Webb image.Intricate features of the outflow, represented in reddish-orange color,...
Lynds 483
Lynds 483 (NIRCam Image)
Shimmering ejections emitted by two actively forming stars make up Lynds 483 (L483). High-resolution near-infrared light captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows incredible new detail and structure within these lobes, including asymmetrical lines that appear to run into one another....
Sagittarius A*
Flaring Disk Around Milky Way's Black Hole (Artist's Concept)
This artist’s concept portrays the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, known as Sagittarius A* (A-star). It’s surrounded by a swirling accretion disk of hot gas. The black hole’s gravity bends light from the far side of the disk, making it appear to wrap above and...
Phoenix Cluster
Phoenix Cluster (Hubble, Chandra, VLA)
This image of the Phoenix cluster combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope and shows how the supermassive black hole at the center promotes large amounts of star formation, instead of hinders it. X-rays from...
Flame Nebula
Flame Nebula in Visible
Flame Nebula
Low Mass Objects within the Flame Nebula in Infrared Light
This near-infrared image of a portion of the Flame Nebula from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope highlights three low-mass objects, seen in the insets to the right. These objects, which are much colder than protostars, require the sensitivity of Webb’s instruments to detect them. These objects...
Flame Nebula
Flame Nebula in Visible and Infrared Light
his collage of images from the Flame Nebula shows a near-infrared light view from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on the left, while the two insets at the right show the near-infrared view taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Much of the dark, dense gas and dust, as well as the surrounding...
Wolf-Rayet 140
Compare Observations of Wolf-Rayet 140 (MIRI Images)
The telescope shows that the winds of two massive stars are producing carbon-rich dust, which may eventually “seed” new stars and planets.
Cassiopeia A
Cassiopeia A Light Echoes (Spitzer Context)
This background image of the region around supernova remnant Cassiopeia A was released by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope in 2008. By taking multiple images of this region over three years with Spitzer, researchers were able to examine a number of light echoes. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space...
Cassiopeia A
Cassiopeia A Light Echoes (NIRCam Images)
These shimmering cosmic curtains show interstellar gas and dust that has been heated by the flashbulb explosion of a long-ago supernova. The gas then glows infrared light in what is known as a thermal light echo. As the supernova illumination travels through space at the speed of light, the...
CEERS
Little Red Dots Mosaic
A team of astronomers sifted through James Webb Space Telescope data from multiple surveys to compile one of the largest samples of “little red dots” (LRDs) to date. The team started with the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey before widening their scope to other...
IRAS 23077+6707
Dracula’s Chivito (IRAS 23077+6707)
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the largest planet-forming disk ever observed around a young star. It spans nearly 400 billion miles — 40 times the diameter of our solar system. Tilted nearly edge-on as seen from Earth, the dark, dusty disk resembles a hamburger. Hubble reveals it to be...
Comet 3I/ATLAS
Comet 3I/ATLAS
This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Hubble photographed the comet on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 277 million miles from Earth. Hubble shows that the comet has a teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off its solid, icy nucleus. Because Hubble was...
NGC 6099
NGC 6099 (Hubble + Chandra)
A Hubble Space Telescope image of a pair of galaxies: NGC 6099 (lower left) and NGC 6098 (upper right). The purple blob depicts X-ray emission from a compact star cluster. The X-rays are produced by an intermediate-mass black hole tearing apart a star.
AT2024tvd
Black Hole TDE AT2024tvd (Hubble + Chandra)
This is a combined Hubble Space Telescope/Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of galaxy located 600 million light-years away that is host to the telltale signature of a roaming supermassive black hole. Visible in the Hubble image is a tidal disruption event (TDE), an intense flash of radiation...
NGC 5335
NGC 5335
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured in exquisite detail a face-on view of a remarkable-looking galaxy. NGC 5335 is categorized as a flocculent spiral galaxy with patchy streamers of star formation across its disk. There is a striking lack of well-defined spiral arms that are commonly found...
Rosette Nebula
Rosette Nebula Context Image
The Rosette Nebula is a vast star-forming region, 100 light-years across, that lies at one end of a giant molecular cloud in the constellation Monoceros. The nebula is estimated to contain around 10,000 solar masses. The nebula is located about 5,000 light-years away from Earth. Intense...
Rosette Nebula
Dark Clouds in Rosette Nebula
This is a Hubble Space Telescope photo of a small portion of the Rosette Nebula, a huge star-forming region spanning 100 light-years across and located 5,200 light-years away. Hubble zooms into a small portion of the nebula that is only 4 light-years across (the approximate distance between our...
NGC 2899
Planetary Nebula NGC 2899
This Hubble Space Telescope image captures the beauty of the moth-like planetary nebula NGC 2899. This object has a diagonal, bipolar, cylindrical outflow of gas. This is propelled by radiation and stellar winds from a nearly 40,000-degree-Fahrenheit white dwarf at the center. In fact, there...
Mars
Mars Near Opposition 2024
This is a combination of Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars taken from December 28th to 30th, 2024. At the midpoint of the observations, Mars was approximately 61 million miles from Earth. Thin water-ice clouds that are apparent in ultraviolet light give the Red Planet a frosty appearance....
Uranus
20 Years of Uranus Observations
The image columns show the change of Uranus for the four years that STIS observed Uranus across a 20-year period. Over that span of time, the researchers watched the seasons of Uranus as the south polar region darkened going into winter shadow while the north polar region brightened as northern...
M31
Survey of Andromeda's Satellite Galaxies
This is a wide-angle view of the distribution of known satellite galaxies orbiting the large Andromeda galaxy (M31), located 2.5 million light-years away. The Hubble Space Telescope was used to study the entire population of 36 mini-galaxies circled in yellow. Andromeda is the bright...
Fomalhaut
Fomalhaut cs2
This composite Hubble Space Telescope image shows the debris ring and dust clouds cs1 and cs2 around the star Fomalhaut. For comparison, dust cloud cs1, imaged in 2012, is pictured with dust cloud cs2, imaged in 2023. The dashed circles mark the location of these clouds. When dust cloud cs2...
LEDA 1313424
Galaxy LEDA 1313424 (Advanced Camera for Surveys Image)
LEDA 1313424, aptly nicknamed the Bullseye, is two and a half times the size of our Milky Way and has nine rings — six more than any other known galaxy. High-resolution imagery from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope confirmed eight rings, and data from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii confirmed...
J0742+2704
Spiral Quasar-host Galaxy J0742+2704
Quasar J0742+2704 (center) became the subject of astronomers' interest after it was discovered to have a newborn jet blasting from the disk around its supermassive black hole in 2020, using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio observatory. This led to follow-up with other...
R Aquarii
NASA's Hubble Sees a Stellar Volcano
R Aquarii (WFC3 Image) NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided a dramatic and colorful close-up look at one of the most rambunctious stars in our galaxy, weaving a huge spiral pattern among the stars. Located approximately 700 light-years away, a binary star system called R Aquarii undergoes...
GRB 250702BDE
GRB 250702B, an unusually long and repeating gamma-ray burst
The orange dot at the centre of this image is a powerful explosion that repeated several times over the course of a day, an event unlike anything ever witnessed before. The image, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), allowed astronomers to determine that the explosion didn’t take place...
GRB 250702BDE
Wider view of the area around the gamma-ray burst GRB 250702B
This image shows a wider area around the gamma-ray burst GRB 250702B, a high energy explosion that repeated several times over the course of a day. The image was taken on 3 July using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). The explosion is the orange source right at the...
WISPIT 2b
Composite VLT image of two planets around the WISPIT 2 star
This image shows two planets being born around the young star WISPIT 2. These observations were made with the SPHERE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). SPHERE can directly image exoplanets by correcting atmospheric turbulence and blocking the light from the central star. ...
WISPIT 2b
Wide-field view of the area around the WISPIT 2 star
This image, captured with ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) shows the area of the sky around the young star WISPIT 2, seen here at the centre of the image.
Triangulum Galaxy
The Triangulum galaxy up close
Today’s Picture of the Week is a closeup of the nearby Triangulum galaxy, also known as Messier 33, located about 3 million light-years away. This festive-looking image, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), reveals the diversity and complexity of the gas and dust between the stars in...
G1
New look at the stars around the Milky Way's centre
A new view on the heart of our Milky Way is presented in today's Picture of the Week. This stunning snapshot, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), reveals the stars and gas surrounding an invisible giant — a supermassive black hole, located some 27 000 light-years away. This is a hugely...
Central Molecular Zone
Location of the Central Molecular Zone in the Milky Way
This image shows the location of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ), a region at the core of our galaxy rich in dense and intricate gas clouds. This zone has been mapped with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), as part of the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey or ACES. The inset is...
Central Molecular Zone
Largest ALMA image ever shows the molecular gas in the centre of the Milky Way
This image shows the complex distribution of molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. It was obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. This map is as long as three full Moons side-by-side in the sky, and it is in...
Central Molecular Zone
Different molecules in the centre of the Milky Way observed with ALMA
This montage shows the distribution of different molecules in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. The observations were made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), as part of the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey or ACES. ACES has mapped the distribution of...
NGC 6543
Looking at the Cat’s Eye Nebula with Hubble
For this month’s ESA/Hubble Picture of the Month, we turn our gaze to one of the most visually intricate remnants of a dying star: the Cat’s Eye Nebula, also known as NGC 6543. This extraordinary planetary nebula has captivated astronomers for decades with its elaborate and multilayered...
RCW 36
A cosmic hawk and its baby stars
Today’s Picture of the Week, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), seems to have captured a cosmic hawk as it spans its wings. While the dark clouds in the middle of the image make up the head and body of the bird of prey, the filaments extending away from the body to the left and right...
NGC 1269
The Cosmic Steering Wheel NGC 1269
This Image of the Week of NGC 1269 was taken utilizing the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which is mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. NGC 1269...
First Kilonova Progenitor System
An image of the area around the first-identified kilonova progenitor system.
Abell 3667
DECam’s Deep View of Abell 3667
Abell 3667 — an actively merging galaxy cluster — is featured in this image assembled from over 28 hours of observations with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera, mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo...
MHO 1502
Wide-field View of Stellar Jet MHO 1502
A wide-field view of the area around stellar jet MHO 1502.
MHO 2147
MHO 2147 Wide-field view
A wide-field view of the area around MHO 2147, a young stellar jet roughly 10,000 light-years from Earth.
NGC 6357
Dark Energy Camera Captures Bright, Young Stars Blazing Inside Glowing Nebula
This image, taken by astronomers using the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, captures the star-forming nebula NGC 6357, which is located 8000 light-years away in...
NGC 1512
Wider crop of the NGC 1512 image
The interacting galaxy pair NGC 1512 and NGC 1510 take center stage in this image from the Dark Energy Camera, a state-of-the art wide-field imager on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. NGC 1512 has been in the process of...
Chamaeleon
Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula
A wide-field view of the area around the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula.
Excerpt of the area around NGC 4261
A trail of celestial objects stretches across this excerpt from a First Look image captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The most prominent feature is NGC 4261, the large elliptical galaxy in the top half of the image. In the bottom-left of the image is the lenticular galaxy NGC 4281....
CG4
Dark Energy Camera Images Cometary Globule CG 4
This cloudy, ominous structure is CG 4, a cometary globule nicknamed ‘God’s Hand’. CG 4 is one of many cometary globules present within the Milky Way, and how these objects get their distinct form is still a matter of debate among astronomers. This image was captured by the Department of...
CG 4
Wide-field view of CG 4
A wide-field view of the area around Cometary Globule CG 4.
NGC 4449
Wide-field View of Starburst Galaxy
A wide-field view of NGC 4449, the Starburst Galaxy.
ACO 1656
Coma Cluster
The Dark Energy Camera captures an image of the dazzling Coma Cluster, named after the hair of Queen Berenice II of Egypt. Not only significant in Greek mythology, this collection of galaxies was also fundamental to the discovery of the existence of dark matter. The theory emerged in 1937 when...
ACO 1656
Coma Cluster (uncropped view)
The Dark Energy Camera captures an image of the dazzling Coma Cluster, named after the hair of Queen Berenice II of Egypt. Not only significant in Greek mythology, this collection of galaxies was also fundamental to the discovery of the existence of dark matter. The theory emerged in 1937 when...
NGC 2244
Rosette Nebula Captured with DECam
Cradled within the fiery petals of the Rosette Nebula is NGC 2244, the young star cluster which it nurtured. The cluster’s stars light up the nebula in vibrant hues of red, gold and purple, and opaque towers of dust rise from the billowing clouds around its excavated core. This image, captured...
Antlia Cluster
DECam Deep View of the Antlia Cluster
The Antlia Cluster (Abell S636) is a group of at least 230 galaxies located about 130 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Antlia (the Air Pump). It hosts a rich variety of galaxy types, including lenticular galaxies, irregular galaxies and ultra-compact dwarfs. The...
Zhúlóng: The most distant spiral galaxy
At the center of this image, placed subtly amongst the dense galactic field, is Zhúlóng, the most distant spiral galaxy discovered to date. It has remarkably well-defined spiral arms, a central old bulge, and a large star-forming disk, resembling the structure of the Milky Way. This galaxy was...
Dark Energy Camera Captures Circinus West Molecular Cloud
A celestial shadow known as the Circinus West molecular cloud creeps across this image taken with the Department of Energy-fabricated 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) — one of the most powerful digital cameras in the world. Within this stellar nursery's opaque boundaries, infant stars...
Chamaeleon
The Ominous Chamaeleon I Dark Cloud
The ominous Chamaeleon I dark cloud, the nearest star-forming region to Earth, is captured in this image taken with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo...
ESO 440-11
Dark Energy Camera's 1 millionth exposure
The Dark Energy Camera's 1 millionth exposure. At the time of this exposure DECam was making an of a galaxy cluster. The 1 millionth exposure has been combined with 127 earlier exposures to make this view of the field. This demonstrates the power of DECam and an archive of a million exposures....
NGC 1270
NGC 1270 Wide-field View
A wide-field view of the area around NGC 1270, one member of the Perseus Cluster, a group of thousands of galaxies that lies around 240 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Perseus.
AFGL 4106
Two's company
We humans are strongly influenced by the presence of companions over the course of our lives, shaping each other emotionally, culturally, or intellectually. This shaping effect is made literal in the case of stellar companions, which is the topic of today's Picture of the Week. The pair of...
1RXS J052832.5+283824
VLT image of a dead star creating a shock wave as it moves through space
The central square image, taken with the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows shock waves around the dead star RXJ0528+2838. When a star moves through space it can push away nearby material creating a so-called bow shock, which in this image is glowing in red, green and blue....
1RXS J052832.5+283824
Wide-field view (PanSTARRS) of the area of the sky around the star RXJ0528+2838
This image from the PanSTARRS survey shows the region of the sky around the dead star RXJ0528+2838, which is located at the very centre of the image.
1RXS J052832.5+283824
Wide-field view (DSS) of the area of the sky around the star RXJ0528+2838
This image from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) shows the region of the sky around the dead star RXJ0528+2838, which is located at the very centre of the image.
HD 121617
The precious rings of space
Not all rings are forged in fantasy, my precious! For astronomers, they are found in space. The ones in today’s Picture of the Week are debris discs: the leftovers of planet formation around other stars. Even our Solar System has a debris disc, known as the Kuiper Belt, where numerous asteroids...
Ve 7–27
Young or old? — There’s both
Today’s Picture of the Week represents an unexpected full circle moment. The depicted object, known as Ve 7–27, was long believed to be a planetary nebula — the end phase of a sun-like star’s life. But ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has shown that it’s actually a still-forming baby star. ...
Most luminous fast blue optical transient
This composite image features X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared data of the luminous fast blue optical transient (LFBOT) named AT 2024wpp. The transient is the bright spot at the upper right edge of its host galaxy, which is 1.1 billion light-years from Earth.
Copeland Septet
Copeland Septet group of galaxies
A group of galaxies nicknamed the Copeland Septet, in the constellation of Leo. Astronomers using images from Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory have created the largest ever map of the sky, comprising over a billion galaxies. The final data release from...
NGC 6823
Ua ʻŌhiʻa Lani: An Image to Celebrate Gemini North’s 25th Anniversary
To celebrate 25 years since the completion of the International Gemini Observatory, students in Hawai‘i voted for the Gemini North telescope to image NGC 6820 — a striking emission nebula and open star cluster. The image was named Ua ʻŌhiʻa Lani, the Heavenly ʻŌhiʻa Rains, after the traditional...
GRB221009A
Record-breaking Gamma-Ray Burst Caught With Gemini (no annotations)
Thanks to a fast reaction by observers and staff, near-simultaneous observations were made of GRB221009A from Gemini South in Chile. The image is a combination of 4 exposures in I, J,H, K with two instruments taken in the morning of Friday 14 October 2022.
Small Magellanic Cloud
Deepest, widest view of the Small Magellanic Cloud from SMASH
Part of the SMASH dataset showing what is arguably the best wide-angle view of the Small Magellanic Cloud to date. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are the largest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and, unlike the rest of the satellite galaxies, are still actively forming stars — and at...
Large Magellanic Cloud
Deepest, widest view of the Large Magellanic Cloud from SMASH
Part of the SMASH dataset showing an unprecedented wide-angle view of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are the largest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and, unlike the rest of the satellite galaxies, are still actively forming stars — and at a rapid pace. The...
MHO 2147
Young stellar jet MHO 2147
The sinuous young stellar jet, MHO 2147, meanders lazily across a field of stars in this image captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab. The stellar jet is the outflow from a young star that is embedded in an infrared dark cloud. Astronomers...
MHO 2147
Young stellar jet MHO 2147 (wider crop)
The sinuous young stellar jet, MHO 2147, meanders lazily across a field of stars in this image captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab. The stellar jet is the outflow from a young star that is embedded in an infrared dark cloud. Astronomers...
DGL 4
Young stellar jet MHO 1502
The knotted young stellar jet, MHO 1502, is captured in this image from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab. The stellar jet is embedded in an area of star formation known as an HII region. The bipolar jet is composed of a chain of knots, suggesting that...
R136a
Sharpest Image Ever of R136a1, Largest Known Star
Nestled in the center of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest star yet discovered. With the help of the Zorro imager and the power of the 8.1-meter Gemini South telescope in Chile, astronomers have produced the sharpest image ever of this star. This new image...
NGC 4567
The merging galaxy pair NGC 4568 and NGC 4567
This image from the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i reveals a pair of interacting spiral galaxies — NGC 4568 (bottom) and NGC 4567 (top) — as they begin to clash and merge. The galaxies will eventually form a single elliptical galaxy in around 500 million years.
GRB151229A
Wide-field view of GRB151229A
A wide-field view of the area around gamma ray burst GRB151229A.
GRB 151229A
Hidden Galaxy Home of GRB (Unannotated)
Unannotated image of the region of the sky surrounding a recently identified galaxy that was found to be the home of GRB 151229A, a short gamma-ray burst. Astronomers calculate that this burst, which lies in the direction of the constellation Capricornus, occurred approximately 9 billion years...
Andromeda Galaxy
The ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Pegasus V
A unique ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered in the outer fringes of the Andromeda Galaxy thanks to the sharp eyes of an amateur astronomer examining archival data from the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo...
MWC 789
Dusty disk around MWC 789
The dusty disk around MWC 789 is part of a survey of 44 young massive stars to investigate planet formation shows dusty, swirling disks — likely to become new solar systems. The image was taken with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument on the Gemini South telescope of the International...
MWC 614
Dusty disk around MWC 614
The dusty disk around MWC 614 is part of a survey of 44 young massive stars to investigate planet formation shows dusty, swirling disks — likely to become new solar systems. The image was taken with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument on the Gemini South telescope of the International...
HD 50138
Dusty disk around HD 50138
The dusty disk around HD 50138 is part of a survey of 44 young massive stars to investigate planet formation in dusty, swirling disks — likely to become new solar systems. The image was taken with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument on the Gemini South telescope of the International...
HD 145718
Dusty disk around HD 145718
The dusty disk around HD 145718 is part of a survey of 44 young massive stars to investigate planet formation shows dusty, swirling disks — likely to become new solar systems. The image was taken with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument on the Gemini South telescope of the International...
HD 34700
Dusty disk around HD 34700 A
The dusty disk around HD 34700 A is part of a survey of 44 young massive stars to investigate planet formation in dusty, swirling disks — likely to become new solar systems. The image was taken with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument on the Gemini South telescope of the International...
HD 169142
Dusty disk around HD 169142
The dusty disk around HD 169142 is part of a survey of 44 young massive stars to investigate planet formation in dusty, swirling disks — likely to become new solar systems. The image was taken with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument on the Gemini South telescope of the International...
NGC 1512
The interacting galaxy pair NGC 1512 and NGC 1510
The interacting galaxy pair NGC 1512 and NGC 1510 take center stage in this image from the Dark Energy Camera, a state-of-the art wide-field imager on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. NGC 1512 has been in the process of...
NGC 1512
Wider crop of the NGC 1512 image
The interacting galaxy pair NGC 1512 and NGC 1510 take center stage in this image from the Dark Energy Camera, a state-of-the art wide-field imager on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. NGC 1512 has been in the process of...
Scorpius constellation
The faint red glow of a free-floating planet
This image shows a small region of the sky in the direction of the Upper Scorpius constellation. It zooms in on a recently discovered free-floating planet, meaning a planet that does not orbit a star but instead roams freely on its own. The free-floating planet is the tiny, bright red dot at...
Cha IR Nebula
Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula
This ethereal image, captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, looks as delicate as a butterfly’s wing. It is, however, a structure known as the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula, which is located near the center of the even larger Chamaeleon I dark cloud,...
NGC 772
Galaxy NGC 772
The overdeveloped spiral arm of the galaxy NGC 772, which was created by tidal interactions with an unruly neighbor, dominates this observation made by astronomers using the Gemini North telescope located near the summit of Maunakea in Hawai‘i.
