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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....
UGC 11397
Centre of activity
The light that the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope collected to create this Picture of the Week reached the telescope after a journey of 250 million years. Its source was the spiral galaxy UGC 11397, which resides in the constellation Lyra (The Lyre). At first glance, UGC 11397 appears to be an...
Abell 209
Portrait of a galaxy cluster
A massive, spacetime-warping cluster of galaxies is the setting of today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week. The galaxy cluster in question is Abell 209, which is located 2.8 billion light-years away in the constellation Cetus (The Whale). This Hubble image of Abell 209 shows...
Digging up a galactic time capsule
For this ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week, we gaze upon the field of stars that is NGC 1786. This object is a globular cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way Galaxy that is approximately 160 000 light-years away from Earth. NGC 1786 itself is in the...
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...
Bullet Cluster
Bullet Cluster (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured the central region of the Bullet Cluster with its NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). The scene contains two massive galaxy clusters that sit on either side of the large, light blue spiral galaxy at the center. Webb’s extremely precise images revealed many...
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...
Bullet Cluster
Bullet Cluster (Webb and Chandra Image)
This is the central region of the Bullet Cluster, which is made up of two massive galaxy clusters. The vast number of galaxies and foreground stars in the image were captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in near-infrared light. Glowing, hot X-rays captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray...
Spiral Galaxies
Thin/Thick Galaxy Disks
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...
Sextans B
Sextans B
Sextans B is an irregular dwarf galaxy, meaning that it is irregularly shaped and smaller than our galaxy, the Milky Way. It lies around 4.5 million light-years from Earth and is located in the constellation Sextans in the southern sky. Captured with the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope,...
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.
Sextans constellation
Dark Energy Survey deep field image
Ten areas in the sky were selected as “deep fields” that the Dark Energy Camera imaged several times during the survey, providing a glimpse of distant galaxies and helping determine their 3D distribution in the cosmos. The image is teeming with galaxies — in fact, nearly every single object in...
Sculptor Galaxy
MUSE view of ionised gas in the Sculptor Galaxy
This image shows the Sculptor Galaxy in a new light. This false-colour composition shows specific wavelengths of light released by hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen. These elements exist in gas form all over the galaxy, but the mechanisms causing this gas to glow can vary throughout the...
NGC 4449
Small but mighty
This portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope puts the nearby galaxy NGC 4449 in the spotlight. The galaxy is situated just 12.5 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). It is a member of the M94 galaxy group, which is near the Local Group of...
Sculptor Galaxy
MUSE view of the Sculptor Galaxy
This image shows a detailed, thousand-colour image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Regions of pink light are spread throughout this whole galactic snapshot, which come from ionised hydrogen in star-forming regions. These areas have...
Spying a spiral through a cosmic lens
This new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month features a rare cosmic phenomenon called an Einstein ring. What at first appears to be a single, strangely shaped galaxy is actually two galaxies that are separated by a large distance. The closer foreground galaxy sits at...
IC 758
Stirring the interstellar soup
This serene spiral galaxy hides a cataclysmic past. The galaxy IC 758, shown here in today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week, is situated 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. In this Hubble image captured in 2023, IC 758 appears peaceful, its soft...
NGC 685
Starry spectacle
A galaxy ablaze with young stars is the subject of today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week. This galaxy is called NGC 685 and is situated about 64 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus (The River). NGC 685 is classified as a barred spiral because its...
Phoenix Dwarf
An explosive phoenix
This image shows a dwarf galaxy in the southern constellation of Phoenix named, for obvious reasons, the Phoenix Dwarf. The Phoenix Dwarf is unique in that it cannot be classified according to the usual scheme for dwarf galaxies; while its shape would label it as a spheroidal dwarf galaxy —...
NGC 4981
When stars explode
Over 75 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin) lies NGC 4981 — a spiral galaxy with a rather explosive past. NGC 4981 was discovered on 17 April 1784 by William Herschel, and subsequently documented in John Dreyer’s New General Catalogue. Over a century later, on...
NGC 3981
Digitized Sky Survey image around the spiral galaxy NGC 3981
This image is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The field of view is approximately 2.4 x 2.0 degrees.
NGC 1187
Wide-field view of the sky around the spiral galaxy NGC 1187
This wide-field view is centred on the spiral galaxy NGC 1187 in the constellation of Eridanus (The River). It is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The distorted companion galaxy ESO 480-G020 can be seen to the upper-right of NGC 1187, close to a...
Messier 87
The Halo of Galaxy Messier 87
The huge halo around giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 appears on this very deep image. An excess of light in the top-right part of this halo, and the motion of planetary nebulae in the galaxy, are the last remaining signs of a medium-sized galaxy that recently collided with Messier 87. The...
NGC 1187
VLT image of the spiral galaxy NGC 1187
This picture taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the galaxy NGC 1187. This impressive spiral lies about 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus (The River). NGC 1187 has hosted two supernova explosions during the last thirty years, the latest one in 2007.
Abell 2744
X-rays, dark matter and galaxies in the cluster Abell 2744
This image combines visible light exposures of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, with X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and a mathematical reconstruction of the location of dark...
NGC 3521
Wide-field view of the sky around NGC 3521
This visible light wide-field image of the region around NGC 3521 was created from photographs taken through blue, red and infrared filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy appears close to the centre. The field of view is approximately 2.9 degrees across.
NGC 2442
Hubble image of the Meathook galaxy
This close-up Hubble view of the Meathook Galaxy (NGC 2442) focuses on the more compact of its two asymmetric spiral arms as well as the central regions. The spiral arm was the location of a supernova that exploded in 1999. These observations were made in 2006 in order to study the aftermath of...
NGC 1365
Comparison of visible-light and infrared images of the galaxy NGC 1365
This comparison shows a visible-light image of the barred spiral NGC 1365 taken with the FORS1 camera on ESO’s VLT, along with the new infrared view obtained with the HAWK-I camera. In the infrared the dust in the galaxy is much less prominent and the new data is ideal for studying the complex...
NGC 1300
HAWK-I image of NGC 1300
This image is of NGC 1300, a spiral galaxy with arms extending from the ends of a spectacularly prominent central bar. It is considered a prototypical example of barred spiral galaxies and lies at a distance of about 65 million light-years, in the constellation of Eridanus (the River). The...
NGC 3621
Wide Field Imager view of the spiral galaxy NGC 3621
This picture of the spiral galaxy NGC 3621 was taken using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. NGC 3621 is about 22 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra (The Sea Snake). It is comparatively bright and can be well seen in moderate-sized...
NGC 247
Wide-field view of the sky around NGC 247
This visible light wide-field image of the region around NGC 247 was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy appears close to the centre. The field of view is approximately 2.8 degrees across.
NGC 4030
HAWK-I image of NGC 4030
This spiral galaxy, NGC 4030, lies about 75 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Virgo. In 2007 Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut who doubles as an amateur astronomer, spotted a supernova — a stellar explosion that is briefly almost as bright as its host galaxy — going off in...
NGC 7424
Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 7424
Composite colour-coded image of another magnificent spiral galaxy, NGC 7424, at a distance of 40 million light-years. It is based on images obtained with the multi-mode VIMOS instrument on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) in three different wavelength bands. The image covers 6.5 x 7.2 square...
Centaurus A
Centaurus A – Field 1 (shell)
Colour composite of "Field 1" (around the jet) in the peculiar galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128), based on exposures through three near-infrared filters (the J-, H- and K-bands at wavelengths 1.2, 1.6 and 2.2 µm, respectively) with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope...
Centaurus A
Centaurus A – Field 2 (halo)
High-resolution, very deep colour image of a field in the South of the Centaurus A galaxy halo. This image was taken in July 1999 through U- and V-band optical filters with the VLT FORS1 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope on Paranal. Note the great variety of object types...
NGC 613
NGC 613
This image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 613 was obtained with the FORS1 and FORS2 multi-mode instruments (at VLT MELIPAL and YEPUN, respectively) on December 16-18, 2001. It is a composite of three exposures in different wavebands, cf. the technical note below. The full-resolution version...
Capodimonte Deep Field
Galaxy cluster in the Capodimonte Deep Field
This is an enlargement of a galaxy cluster of the Capodimonte Deep Field, which most members are located in the north-east quadrant (upper left) and have a reddish colour. The nebulous object to the upper left is a dwarf galaxy of spheroidal shape. The red object, located near the centre of the...
Dark Matter
Cosmic shear in sky field with galaxy cluster
The image shows an example of the mapping of the dark mass distribution in one of the 50 sky fields observed with the VLT and FORS1. To the left is the original image, a 36-min exposure in a near-infrared wavelength band. To the right is the reconstructed map of the mass (a "mass photo") in...
M 83
Messier 83 – central region
This image of a well-known spiral galaxy, Messier 83, was prepared by superposing three CCD frames from this data release that are now available in the archive. This galaxy is located in the southern constellation Hydra (The Water-Snake) and is also known as NGC 5236; the distance is about 15...
NGC 4945
Spiral galaxy NGC 4945
This photograph shows a sky field around the spiral galaxy NGC 4945 . It is assembled from five 15-minute R(ed)-narrowband (shown in red), four 5-minute B(lue)-band (shown in green), and five 1000-second U(ltraviolet)-band (shown in blue) exposures, obtained in January 1999 during the Science...
NGC 1232
(UV-B) colour index in NGC 1232
This is a computer processed "(U-B) colour-index image" of NGC 1232. This technique allows to show the "difference" between images of the galaxy, as seen in different wavebands. Since different types of objects have different brightness in different colours, this method is very useful to locate...
NGC 2997
Spiral galaxy NGC 2997 I-Band-0.25 arcsec
A reproduction of the sharpest image obtained so far with the VLT UT1 with image quality 0.25 arcsec FWHM. 5 min exposure in I-band.
RXJ1347.5-1145
Bright X-Ray cluster acts as strong gravitational lens
This is an optical image of the most luminous ROSAT cluster of galaxies RXJ1347.5-1145, obtained with the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory. The image shows the central part of the cluster with two bright gravitational arcs. The arcs are 5 - 6 arcseconds long and located...
Omega Centauri
Omega Centauri
This photo of Omega Centauri, the brightest and largest globular cluster in the sky, was obtained with the Danish 1.5 m telescope at the ESO La Silla observatory. It shows the central part only; the cluster is actually much larger than the field reproduced here. At a distance of about 16,500...
HE 1104-1805
Brightest known double quasar
The newly discovered 16-magnitude double quasar HE 1104-1805 AB is the object at the centre of this CCD image, obtained by Dieter Reimers and collaborators at the ESO New Technology Telescope on May 11, 1993. Component A is the brighter of the two (lower) and B is the fainter (upper). The...
1243+036
A rotating giant cloud around an infant galaxy
This composite picture shows the galaxy 1243+036. Its redshift has been measured as 3.6; this corresponds to a "look-back" time of about 90 percent of the age of the Universe (or a distance of about 12,000 - 15,000 million light years). We therefore observe it, as it was when the age of the...
NGC 1399
Planetary nebulae in NGC 1399
This photo shows some of the very faint planetary nebulae in the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1399, recently observed by an international team of astronomers with the ESO 3.5-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT). Their magnitudes are around 27 and they are indicated with circles. The central...
QSO 1202-07
A galaxy at the edge of the Universe
These two photos show the extremely distant galaxy with redshift z = 4.4, detected near QSO 1202-07. (a) The left image was obtained with the SUSI CCD camera at the ESO 3.5-metre NTT telescope. It is the sum of 6 single exposures in red colour of the QSO 1202-07 field with a total integration...
EMSS 2137–23
Gravitational lens in EMSS 2137–23
This image shows the compact cluster of galaxies EMSS 2137--23 and the "giant arc", just north of the centre of the cluster. It was obtained in June 1992 with the ESO 3.5-m New Technology Telescope (NTT) and the ESO Multi-Mode Instrument (EMMI) during remote observations from the Trieste...
1992 AD
Minor planet 1992 AD
This photo shows the newly discovered minor planet 1992 AD which is the most distant in the Solar System. It was obtained at the ESO La Silla Observatory on 5 February 1992. The telescope followed the planet whose 16.7 magnitude image is round; the stars in the field are seen as short trails....
Milky Way Galactic Centre
First optical image of the Galactic Centre
This photo shows the first optical image of the Galactic Centre, the enigmatic region at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. It was obtained with the EFOSC II instrument at the ESO New Technology Telescope (NTT).
Messier 83
Southern spiral galaxy NGC 5236
This is an image of the bright, southern spiral galaxy NGC 5236, also known as Messier 83, one of the 9381 spiral galaxies studied by Andris Lauberts and Edwin Valentijn.
ESO 060-G27
The peculiar galaxy ESO 060-IG26
Far down in the southern sky, on the border betwenn the constellations of Volans and Carina, lies this small group of galaxies. It was first discovered at ESO in 1974. The central galaxy is visibly disturbed and now carries the designation ``ESO 060-IG26''. The less disturbed galaxy of...
G 0102 190
Most distant "normal'' galaxy known, G 0102 190
This is an image of the most distant "normal'' galaxy known, G 0102 190, as seen on a CCD exposure obtained with the EFOSC II instrument at the ESO New Technology Telescope. The field measures arcsec; the brightest object is the quasar UM 669, whose image is strongly overexposed. G 0102 190 is...
NGC 1808
NGC 1808
The galaxy NGC 1808.
Arakelian 120
Is there a black hole in this galaxy?
This is a photo of Arakelian 120, an AGN galaxy which may contain a massive black hole at its centre, cf. ESO Press Release eso8709. The bright nucleus is overexposed and the underlying galaxy is only faintly visible. Most of the other objects in this field are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
SN 1987A
Bright supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)
This colour photo of the bright supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was obtained with a 6 x 6 camera mounted piggy-back on a large telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, on February 25 at UT 01:00, two days after the supernova exploded. On this date, the supernova had reached...
PKS 2152-69
False-colour CCD-image of the southern radio galaxy PKS 2152-69
This false-colour CCD-image of the southern radio galaxy PKS 2152-69 shows the gas cloud in which quasar-like activity has been discovered. The highly energetic cloud is seen to the upper left of the bright centre in the otherwise normal radio galaxy. The image was obtained by subtracting a...
PKS 2152-69
PKS 2152-69
These CCD images of the southern radio galaxy PKS 2152-69 show the gas cloud in which quasar-like activity has been discovered. The frame to the left was obtained in integrated light (continuum) and demonstrates the smooth distribution of stars in this seemingly normal elliptical galaxy....
Zhúlóng: The most distant spiral galaxy
This image of Zhúlóng, the most distant spiral galaxy discovered to date, shows its 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 discovered as part of the PANORAMIC Survey — a wide-area...
NGC 3507
Paired pinwheel seen solo
A single member of a galaxy pair takes centre stage in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week. This beautiful spiral galaxy is NGC 3507, which is situated about 46 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. NGC 3507 is classified as a barred spiral because the galaxy’s...
Wide-field view of the region of the sky around a ‘cosmic joust’
This wide-field view shows the region of the sky around a pair of interacting galaxies, nicknamed the 'cosmic joust', in which one of them is piercing the other with intense radiation. The galaxies appear as a tiny white dot at the centre of this image. The Atacama Large...
ALMA image of the ‘cosmic joust’
This image, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), shows the molecular gas content of two galaxies involved in a cosmic collision. The one on the right hosts a quasar –– a supermassive black hole that is accreting material from its surroundings and releasing intense...
NGC 3596
Face to face with a spiral’s arms
The spiral galaxy NGC 3596 is on display in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week, which incorporates six different wavelengths of light. NGC 3596 is situated 90 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo. The galaxy was discovered in 1784 by astronomer William...
Capturing candyfloss clouds
Today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features a sparkling cloudscape from one of the Milky Way’s galactic neighbours, a dwarf galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Located 160 000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Large Magellanic Cloud is...
NGC 3511
A spiral so inclined
The stately and inclined spiral galaxy NGC 3511 is the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week. The galaxy is located 43 million light-years away in the constellation Crater (The Cup). From Hubble’s vantage point in orbit around Earth, NGC 3511 is tilted by about 70...
NGC 1961
Snapshot of a peculiar spiral
A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week. This galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). The name Arp 184 comes from the Atlas of...
JADES-GS-z14-0
Wide-field view of the region of the sky around JADES-GS-z14-0
This wide-field view from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 shows the region of the sky around JADES-GS-z14-0, the most distant galaxy known yet. The galaxy is located at the centre of the frame, but it is too faint to be seen here. Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array...
JADES-GS-z14-0
Furthest detection of oxygen in the early Universe
This image shows the precise location in the night sky of the galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0, an extremely tiny dot in the Fornax constellation. As of today, this is the most distant confirmed galaxy we know of. Its light took 13.4 billion years to reach us and shows the conditions of the Universe when...
JADES-GS-z14-0
Oxygen spectrum in most distant known galaxy
The inset in this image shows JADES-GS-z14-0 –– the most distant known galaxy as of today –– as seen with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The two spectra shown here result from independent analysis of ALMA data by two teams of astronomers. Both found an emission line of...
Hubble observes new tidal disruption event (January 2025 image)
Lurking 600 million light-years away, within the inky black depths between stars, there is an invisible monster gulping down any wayward star that plummets toward it. The black hole revealed its presence in a newly identified tidal disruption event (TDE) where a hapless star was ripped apart...
LEDA 677373
A stubborn dwarf galaxy
The fuzzy collection of stars seen in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image forms an intriguing dwarf galaxy named LEDA 677373, located about 14 million light-years away from us. Dwarf galaxies are small, faint collections of stars and gas. Their diverse properties make them intriguing...
NGC 1760
Early SPHEREx Observations: NGC 1760 at 3.29 microns
NASA's SPHEREx mission is observing the entire sky in 102 colors of infrared light not visible to the human eye. This image shows a section of sky in one wavelength (3.29 microns), revealing the glow of sooty, carbon-based dust particles known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAH's). It is...
NGC 1760
Early SPHEREx Observations: NGC 1760 at 0.96 microns
NASA's SPHEREx mission is observing the entire sky in 102 colors of infrared light not visible to the human eye. This image shows a section of sky in one wavelength (0.96 microns), revealing the glow of ionized gaseous sulfur, heated by nearby stars to a degree that it has lost two of its...
NGC 1760
Early SPHEREx Observations: NGC 1760 at 0.98 microns
NASA's SPHEREx mission is observing the entire sky in 102 colors of infrared light not visible to the human eye. This image shows a section of sky in one wavelength (0.98 microns), of the star-forming nebula known as NGC 1760. At this wavelength there is very little glow from the gas and dust...
Andromeda Galaxy
Wide-field view of the Andromeda Galaxy
This ground-based image shows the full extent of the Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31 or M 31. The Andromeda Galaxy appears very large in the sky — several times the size of the full Moon (although much fainter). Hubble is designed to make highly detailed observations of much smaller...
Abell 1489
Cosmic Community of Abell 1489
Punctuating the deep black of this Image of the Week are hundreds of blobs of light, each one an entire galaxy in our Universe. Many of the yellowish points are members of the galaxy cluster Abell 1489, imaged here using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini North, one half of...
LEDA 42160
An unlikely spiral
This image shows LEDA 42160, a galaxy about 52 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. The dwarf galaxy is one of many forcing its way through the comparatively dense gas in the Virgo cluster, a massive cluster of galaxies. The pressure exerted by this intergalactic gas,...
Abell 1758
Northern part of Abell 1758
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the northern part of the galaxy cluster Abell 1758, A1758N. The cluster is approximately 3.2 billion light-years from Earth and is part of a larger structure containing two cluster sitting some 2.4 million light-years apart. But A1758N...
NGC 4631
The belly of the cosmic whale
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has peered deep into NGC 4631, better known as the Whale Galaxy. Here, a profusion of starbirth lights up the galactic centre, revealing bands of dark material between us and the starburst. The galaxy’s activity tapers off in its outer regions where there...
Messier 87
A cosmic searchlight
Streaming out from the centre of the galaxy M87 like a cosmic searchlight is one of nature's most amazing phenomena, a black-hole-powered jet of electrons and other sub-atomic particles traveling at nearly the speed of light. In this Hubble telescope image, the blue jet contrasts with the...
UGC 7342
Hubble view of green filament in galaxy UGC 7342
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows ghostly green filaments, lying within galaxy UGC 7342. This filament was illuminated by a blast of radiation from a quasar — a very luminous and compact region that surrounds the supermassive black hole at the centre of its host galaxy. Its...
NGC 6786
NGC 6786
This Hubble image displays a beautiful pair of interacting spiral galaxies with swirling arms. The smaller of the two, dubbed LEDA 62867 and positioned to the left of the frame, seems to be safe for now, but will probably be swallowed by the larger spiral galaxy, NGC 6786 (to the right),...
VCC 1993
VCC 1993 in the Virgo cluster of galaxies
Virgo cluster galaxy VCC 1993. Hubble's "eye" is so sharp that it was able to pick out the fuzzy globular clusters, which, at that distance, look like individual stars bunched up around the galaxies, instead of groupings of stars.
Bug Nebula
Butterfly emerges from stellar demise in planetary nebula NGC 6302
This celestial object looks like a delicate butterfly. But it is far from serene. What resemble dainty butterfly wings are actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to nearly 20 000 degrees Celsius. The gas is tearing across space at more than 950 000 kilometres per hour — fast enough to travel...
UGC 8091
Dwarf irregular galaxy UGC 8091 (wide-field view)
For the end of the year and the holiday season Hubble has captured the festive bundle of lights known as UGC 8091. UGC 8091, also known as GR 8, lies around seven million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. It is a dwarf irregular galaxy: a comparatively small, low-mass galaxy...
GRB990712
Gamma-ray burst host galaxy GRB990712
This is an image of Gamma-ray Burst Host Galaxy GRB990712. Long-duration gamma-ray bursts are powerful flashes of high-energy radiation that are sometimes seen coming from supernovae — the explosions of extremely massive stars. This image is one of a set of images taken by NASA’s Hubble Space...
NGC 3717
A Spiral in Profile
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope sees galaxies of all shapes, sizes, brightnesses, and orientations in the cosmos. Sometimes, the telescope gazes at a galaxy oriented sideways — as shown here. The spiral galaxy featured in this Picture of the Week is called NGC 3717, and it is located about...
IC 335
The beautiful side of IC 335
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the galaxy IC 335 in front of a backdrop of distant galaxies. IC 335 is part of a galaxy group containing three other galaxies, and located in the Fornax Galaxy Cluster 60 million light-years away. As seen in this image, the disc of IC 335...
NGC 4522
Hubble views NGC 4522
Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) allows astronomers to study an interesting and important phenomenon called ram pressure stripping that is so powerful, it is capable of mangling galaxies and even halting their star formation. NGC 4522 is a spectacular example of a spiral galaxy that...
NGC 1132
The gargantuan galaxy NGC 1132
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image of the galaxy NGC 1132 which is, most likely, a cosmic fossil - the aftermath of an enormous multi-galactic pile-up, where the carnage of collision after collision has built up a brilliant but fuzzy giant elliptical galaxy far...
IXO 5
Hubble image of NGC 1073
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073, which is found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is thought to be a similar barred spiral, and the study of galaxies such as NGC 1073 can help astronomers...
NGC 2623
Hubble views results of NGC 2623 merger
Not surprisingly, interacting galaxies have a dramatic effect on each other. Studies have revealed that as galaxies approach one another massive amounts of gas are pulled from each galaxy towards the centre of the other, until ultimately, the two merge into one massive galaxy. NGC 2623 is in...
Carina Nebula
Hubble photographs turbulent neighborhood near eruptive star
A small portion of the rough-and-tumble neighborhood of swirling dust and gas near one of the most massive and eruptive stars in our galaxy is seen in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. This close-up view shows only a three light-year-wide portion of the entire Carina Nebula, which has...
Markarian 1018
The active galaxy Markarian 1018
The mystery of a rare change in the behaviour of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the distant galaxy Markarian 1018 has been solved by an international team of astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope along with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Chandra X-ray...
Messier 65
Messier 65 through the years
The 1st of March 1780 was a particularly productive night for Charles Messier. Combing the constellation of Leo for additions to his grand astronomical catalogue, he struck on not one, but two, new objects. One of those objects is seen here: Messier 65. "Nebula discovered in Leo: It is very...
M 105
The heart of the Lion
It might appear featureless and unexciting at first glance, but NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations of this elliptical galaxy — known as Messier 105 — show that the stars near the galaxy’s centre are moving very rapidly. Astronomers have concluded that these stars are zooming around a...
NGC 6535
An ancient globule
This image captures the stunning NGC 6535, a globular cluster 22 000 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens (The Serpent) that measures one light-year across. Globular clusters are tightly bound groups of stars which orbit galaxies. The large mass in the rich stellar centre of the...
Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy
It came from outer space
Named after its discoverer, the French-Armenian astronomer Agop Terzan, this is the globular cluster Terzan 7 — a densely packed ball of stars bound together by gravity. It lies just over 75 000 light-years away from us on the other side of our galaxy, the Milky Way. It is a peculiar cluster,...
ESO 149-003
Blue and gold
This sprinkling of cosmic glitter makes up the galaxy known as ESO 149-3, located some 20 million light-years away from us. It is an example of an irregular galaxy, characterised by its amorphous, undefined shape — a property that sets it apart from its perhaps more photogenic spiral and...
ESO 499-G37
A loose spiral galaxy
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the spiral galaxy ESO 499-G37, seen here against a backdrop of distant galaxies, scattered with nearby stars. The galaxy is viewed from an angle, allowing Hubble to reveal its spiral nature clearly. The faint, loose spiral arms can be...
N 83B
N83B - massive infant stars rock their cradle
Extremely intense radiation from newly born, ultra-bright stars has blown a glowing spherical bubble in the nebula N83B, also known as NGC 1748. A new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image has helped to decipher the complex interplay of gas and radiation of a star-forming region in a nearby...
NGC 7052
Disk around a black hole in galaxy NGC 7052 (Hubble WFPC2 view)
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image was taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, in visible light. Details as small as 50 light-years across can be seen.
NGC 4183
Hubble portrays a dusty spiral galaxy
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has provided us with another outstanding image of a nearby galaxy. This week, we highlight the galaxy NGC 4183, seen here with a beautiful backdrop of distant galaxies and nearby stars. Located about 55 million light-years from the Sun and spanning about...
NGC 4845
Supermassive and super-hungry
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4845, located over 65 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin). The galaxy’s orientation clearly reveals the galaxy’s striking spiral structure: a flat and dust-mottled disc surrounding a bright...
IC 4710
A frenzy of stars
Discovered in 1900 by astronomer DeLisle Stewart and here imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, IC 4710 is an undeniably spectacular sight. The galaxy is a busy cloud of bright stars, with bright pockets — marking bursts of new star formation — scattered around its edges. IC 4710 is a...
Andromeda Galaxy
Stars in the Andromeda Galaxy’s disc
This image shows NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images of a small part of the disc of the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. Hubble’s position above the distorting effect of the atmosphere, combined with the galaxy’s relative proximity, means that the galaxy can be...
NGC 1806
A great ball of stars
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has turned its sharp eye towards a tight collection of stars, first seen 174 years ago. The result is a sparkling image of NGC 1806, tens of thousands of stars gravitationally bound into a rich cluster. Commonly called globular clusters, most of these objects...
Abell 2163
Cosmic fireflies
Galaxies glow like fireflies in this spectacular NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image! This flickering swarm of cosmic fireflies is a rich cluster of galaxies called Abell 2163. Abell 2163 is a member of the Abell catalogue, an all-sky catalogue of over 4000 galaxy clusters. It is...
SNR 0454-67.2
Tangled — cosmic edition
This dark, tangled web is an object named SNR 0454-67.2. It formed in a very violent fashion — it is a supernova remnant, created after a massive star ended its life in a cataclysmic explosion and threw its constituent material out into surrounding space. This created the messy formation we see...
RXC J0232.2-4420
Strings of homeless stars
This sparkling Picture of the Week features a massive galaxy cluster named RXC J0232.2-4420. This image was taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide-Field Camera 3 as part of an observing programme called RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey). RELICS imaged 41 massive...
UGCA 281
Dwarf galaxy UGCA 281
UGCA 281 is a blue compact dwarf galaxy located in the constellation of Canes Venatici. Within it, two giant star clusters appear brilliant white and are swaddled by greenish hydrogen gas clouds. These clusters are responsible for most of the recent star formation in UGCA 281; the rest of the...
NGC 5714
The curious case of calcium-rich supernovae
This image, captured by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the spiral galaxy NGC 5714, about 130 million light-years away in the constellation of Boötes (the Herdsman). NGC 5714 is classified as a Sc spiral galaxy, but its spiral arms — the...
NGC 5949
Small but significant
The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is a dwarf galaxy named NGC 5949. Thanks to its proximity to Earth — it sits at a distance of around 44 million light-years from us, placing it within the Milky Way’s cosmic neighbourhood — NGC 5949 is a perfect target for astronomers...
IC 5201
A closer look at IC 5201
In 1900, astronomer Joseph Lunt made a discovery: Peering through a telescope at Cape Town Observatory, the British–South African scientist spotted this beautiful sight in the southern constellation of Grus (The Crane): a barred spiral galaxy now named IC 5201. Over a century later, the galaxy...
NGC 4833
A sky full of stars
Located approximately 22 000 light-years away in the constellation of Musca (The Fly), this tightly packed collection of stars — known as a globular cluster — goes by the name of NGC 4833. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the dazzling stellar group in all its glory. NGC 4833...
NGC 1222
A greedy giant
NGC 1222, seen in this image taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), is a galaxy with a rather eventful story to tell. NGC 1222 has been described as a peculiar example of a type of galaxy known as a lenticular galaxy. Typically, this kind of...
Abell 2744
Galaxy cluster Abell 2744 with dark matter map
This is a NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744. Shown in blue on the image is a map of the dark matter found within the cluster. This cluster was part of a study of 72 galaxy cluster collisions which determined that dark matter interacts with other dark matter...
NGC 3021
A cosmological measuring tape
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3021 which lies about 100 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo Minor (The Little Lion). Among many other types of stars, this galaxy contains Cepheid variable stars, which can be used work out the distance to...
