Gallery: Space Photos of the Week: The Orion Nebula Is Getting Pretty Deep, Man
<a href="http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1625a/"> ESO/H. Drass et al.</a>01SPoW-July15-01.jpg
This spectacular image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. This is the deepest view ever of this region and reveals more very faint planetary-mass objects than expected.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubble-spots-a-secluded-starburst-galaxy">ESA/Hubble & NASA</a>02SPoW-July15-03.jpg
MCG+07-33-027 is a starburst galaxy, meaning it is experiencing an extraordinarily high rate of star formation. For galaxies in a state of starburst, this intense period of star formation has to be triggered somehow---often by a collision with another galaxy. But MCG+07-33-027 is rather isolated, so it’s most likely not due to a collision with a neighboring or passing galaxy. Astronomers are still speculating about the cause. The bright object to the right of the galaxy is a foreground star in our own galaxy.
<a href="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/07/Sundarbans_web">ESA</a>03SPoW-July15-07b.jpg
The Sentinel-2A satellite takes us over the very eastern part of the Sundarbans in Bangladesh, in this natural-colour image. Sundarbans is the world’s largest single chunk of tidal halophytic mangrove forest incorporating some 3800 square miles. Generally, fresh water is required for plants, but these mangrove forests can also thrive in saline water. The erosional forces of the sea and wind along the coast continuously mould the landscape, together with the huge amounts of silt and other sediments, deposited in the countless estuaries, visible in the water.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20488/tethys-tops-saturn">NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute</a>04SPoW-July15-05.jpg
An illusion of perspective, Saturn’s moon Tethys seems to hang above the planet's north pole in this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Tethys (660 miles or 1,062 kilometers across) is actually farther away than Saturn in this image. Lacking visual clues about distance, your brain place the moon above Saturn's north pole. Tethys, like all of Saturn's major moons and its ring system, orbits almost exactly in the planet's equatorial plane.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubble-views-a-stubborn-dwarf-galaxy">ESA/Hubble & NASA</a>05SPoW-July15-02.jpg
This fuzzy collection of stars forms an intriguing dwarf galaxy named LEDA 677373. Dwarf galaxies are small, faint collections of stars and gas. Their diverse properties make them intriguing objects to astronomers, but their small size means that we can only explore those that lie closest to Earth. This particular dwarf galaxy contains a plentiful reservoir of gas from which stars could form, but a nearby giant spiral galaxy, Messier 83, seems to be stealing gas from LEDA 677373, stopping new stars from being born.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-juno-spacecraft-sends-first-in-orbit-view">NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS</a>06SPoW-July15-06.jpg
This photo is one of the first images taken by JunoCam on NASA’s Juno spacecraft after entering orbit around Jupiter on July 5th. JunoCam survived its first pass through the Jupiter’s extreme radiation environment, and is ready to collect images of the giant planet. It was snapped on July 10 at 2.7 million miles from Jupiter on the outbound leg of its initial 53.5-day capture orbit. You can see atmospheric features on Jupiter, including the Great Red Spot, and three of Jupiter’s four largest moons.
