Since humans first looked up at the sky, thousands of questions about space, the universe and galaxies have remained unanswered. The search for answers and unravelling the universe’s greatest mystery of how it was created introduced humans to the wonders of space, including interacting galaxies, nebulae, moons, planets and black holes. Space agencies like NASA continue to share fascinating images from space to help us better understand the universe.
Two bulbous shapes glow in the center. Gas colors in shades of blue and purple radiate near the center, while fuchsia, red and pink hues surround the outer edges. The background is dotted with stars.
Eta Carinae could be about to explode, but nobody knows when. It could happen in the relatively near future, although that could still be a million years away (astronomically speaking). With a mass about 100 times greater than our Sun, Eta Carinae is an excellent candidate for a full-blown supernova, or the explosion of a star.
Swirls of bright green fill this view of space. The bright “heart” of the Crab Nebula is visible in the center. Stars can be seen in the sky in the distance.
The eerie glow of a dead star that exploded in a supernova long ago is revealed in this @NASAHubble image of the Crab Nebula. But don’t be fooled: The ghostly-looking object still has a pulse. Hidden at the center lies the star’s telltale heart, beating with rhythmic precision.
This light-year-long knot of interstellar gas and dust, which looks a bit like a caterpillar, is a newborn star – a protostar.
Stars form in large clouds of gas and dust called molecular clouds. These massive clouds are cold and clump together. Eventually, gravity causes some of these clumps to collapse. When this happens, the material heats up through friction, eventually leading to the formation of a protostar.
Caldwell 69 is one of over 100 objects in the Caldwell Catalog: a list of galaxies, nebulae, and other cosmic wonders that are easily identified by amateur astronomers.
The fiery, dying star at its center – glowing at a temperature of over 450,000 degrees Fahrenheit (250,000 degrees Celsius) – is enveloped in a blanket of icy hailstones.
A nebula that is shaped like a cat’s eye. There is a bright point of light in the center. As you move outward from the center, you see bubbles of dust. The middle one is blue. These shells appear as concentric rings around the edges of the nebula and look like the layers of a halved onion.
Planetary nebulae are a category of nebulae. They got their name because they resembled planets when first observed through early telescopes. However, a planetary nebula is the final stage in the evolution of a star similar to our Sun.
