Gallery: The Most Dazzling Photos From Space This Year
<a href="http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1520/">ESO</a>01ESO’s Very Large Telescope images the Medusa Nebula
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have captured the most detailed image ever taken of the Medusa Nebula. As the star at the heart of this nebula made its transition into retirement, it shed its outer layers into space, forming this colourful cloud. The image foreshadows the final fate of the Sun, which will eventually also become an object of this kind.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/where-alice-in-wonderland-meets-albert-einstein.html">X-ray: NASA/CXC/UA/J.Irwin et al; Optical: NASA/STScI</a>02SPoW-November27-003b
The “Cheshire Cat” galaxies are so named because of their grinning features, but not all of them are nearby. Some are distant galaxies whose light has been stretched and bent by large amounts of mass contained in the foreground galaxies. This is known as “gravitational lensing” and is one of the key factors of Einstein’s general relativity published 100 years ago this month. This photo from Chandra X-Ray Observatory finds evidence that the Cheshire Cat group are slamming into one another and the left “eye” contains a supermassive black hole.
<a href="http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1521/">ESO</a>03eso14xxa-vv391
__The star forming cloud RCW 34.__ In the brightest region of this glowing nebula called RCW 34, gas is heated dramatically by young stars and expands through the surrounding cooler gas. Once the heated hydrogen reaches the borders of the gas cloud, it bursts outwards into the vacuum like the contents of an uncorked champagne bottle — this process is referred to as champagne flow. But the young star-forming region RCW 34 has more to offer than a few bubbles; there seem to have been multiple episodes of star formation within the same cloud.
<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/pluto-dazzles-in-false-color">NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI</a>04SPoW-06
A new false color image of Pluto released by New Horizons. The photo was enhanced to show differences in the dwarf planet’s texture and composition.
<a href="http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1517/">NASA, ESA, J. Trauger (Jet Propulson Laboratory)</a>05SPoW-July26-Aug1-07
This photo shows the Nebula Lagoon in the constellation of Sagittarius. The region’s name might sound peaceful, but it’s actually the exact opposite. The center of the nebula is home to extreme winds from hot stars, tumultuous funnels of gas and active star formation. The distinctive star buried in dark clouds is Herschel 36 and influences the surrounding cloud’s shape.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/hubble-peers-into-the-heart-of-a-galactic-maelstrom">ESA/Hubble & NASA</a>06SPoW-Oct11-17-06
NGC 4639 is a beautiful example of a type of galaxy known as a barred spiral. It lies over 70 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo and is one of about 1,500 galaxies that make up the Virgo Cluster. NGC 4639 is a beautiful example of a type of galaxy known as a barred spiral. In this image, one can clearly see the bar running through the bright, round core of the galaxy. The galaxy’s spiral arms are sprinkled with bright regions of active star formation. Each of these tiny jewels is actually several hundred light-years across and contains hundreds or thousands of newly formed stars. But NGC 4639 also conceals a dark secret in its core — a massive black hole that is consuming the surrounding gas.
<a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4722">NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona</a>07SPoW-Sept27-Oct3-05
New findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars. Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet.
<a href="http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1537/?lang">ESO</a>08SPoW-Sept20-26-03
This new image of the rose-colored star forming region Messier 17 was captured by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is one of the sharpest images showing the entire nebula. It not only reveals its full size but also retains fine detail throughout the cosmic landscape of gas clouds, dust and newborn stars.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/hubble-sees-the-wings-of-a-butterfly-the-twin-jet-nebula"> ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt</a>09SPoW-Aug23-29-03
The Twin Jet Nebula has beautiful, illuminated “wings” of gas caused by the last stages of an old star “of low to intermediate mass.” The star’s outer layers are gone, leaving the core exposed and glowing. The Twin Jet Nebula is a bipolar nebula, meaning it contains two stars. Astronomers believe this is the reason for the distinctive wing shape as the dying stars expel gases.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/veil-nebula-supernova-remnant">NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team</a>10SPoW-Sept20-26-05
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled a small section of the expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago. Known as the Veil Nebula, the debris is one of the best-known supernova remnants, deriving its name from its delicate, draped filamentary structures. The entire nebula is 110 light-years across, covering six full moons on the sky as seen from Earth, and resides about 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/new-perspective-on-a-galaxy-cluster”> X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Waterloo/A.Vantyghem et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NRAO/VLA</a>11SPoW-Oct18-24-06
The galaxy cluster MS 0735.6+7421 is home to one of the most powerful eruptions ever observed. Within the Chandra data, holes, or cavities, can be seen. These cavities were created by an outburst from a supermassive black hole at the center of the cluster, which ejected the enormous jets detected in radio waves (pink) detected by the Very Large Array. This image is part of a collection of new images released from the Chandra archive to celebrate American Archive Month.
<a href="http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1535/">ESO</a>12SPoW-Sept30-Aug5-01
The Prawn Nebula is one of constant "cosmic recycling." It's been a hotbed for star production over millions of years because of the many aging stars and supernova explosions that keep new stars forming.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/hubbles-galactic-sunflower">ESA/Hubble & NASA</a>13SPoW-Sept9-12-03
The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower. So the nickname for this cosmic object — the Sunflower Galaxy — is no coincidence. Galactic arms, sunflowers and whirlpools are only a few examples of nature’s apparent preference for spirals. For galaxies like Messier 63 the winding arms shine bright because of the presence of recently formed, blue–white giant stars and clusters, readily seen in this Hubble image.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/hubble-view-smoke-ring-for-a-halo/">ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt</a>14SPoW-Oct26-31-06
This is a photo of the star system DI Cha. It’s a quadruple system containing two sets of binary stars, but in the photo only two stars are apparent, shining through a ring of cascading dust. It’s part of the Chamaeleon I dark cloud --- one of three such clouds that comprise a large star-forming region known as the Chamaeleon Complex.
