Gallery: The Secrets Behind All Those Gorgeous Photos of Space
NASA, ESA, CXC, and JPL-Caltech01hs-2006-14-f-hires-jpg
This image of galaxy M82 combines several wavelength images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope. X-ray data appears blue, infrared light appears red, hydrogen appear orange, and the bluest visible light appears in yellow-green.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)02x0gEa
The faint planetary nebula PuWe1 was formed when the outer layers of a dying red giant star blew off. It was taken using a hydrogen alpha filter (red) and oxygen filter (blue).
NASA, ESA, CXC and the University of Potsdam, JPL-Caltech, and STScI03Young stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), one of the closest galaxies to our Milky Way.
This dwarf galaxy, known as the Small Magellanic Cloud, is one of the Milky Way’s closest neighbors. It is so bright that you can see it with you naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere and near the equator. The photograph was taken using x-ray, infrared, and other filters.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)04r6VlJ
Faint filaments of the Cygnus Loop near the Veil Nebula. They are the remains of a star that exploded 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. Hydrogen-alpha appears red, oxygen appears blue, and sulphur appears green.
T.A. Rector & I.P. Dell'Antonio (NOAO/AURA/NSF)05do5qH
This composite image of the moon combines two images—one of the moon and another of the stars and galaxies surrounding it.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)06PqmM9
This photograph of the star funnel Sh2-126 was made using the KPNO 4-Meter Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. It combines images taken using B (blue), V (green), I (orange) and hydrogen-alpha (red) filters.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/L.Lopez et al.; Infrared: Palomar; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA07A supernova remnant that is located about 26,000 light years from Earth.
The supernova remnant W49B could be the most recent black hole to have formed in the Milky Way. This image was created from blue and green x-rays taken at NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, pink radio data from the NSF’s Very Large Array, and yellow infrared data from Caltech’s Palomar Observatory.
NASA, ESA, STScI, J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University)08Ghostscript 24 bit color image dumpGhostscript 24 bit color image dump
Columns of interstellar hydrogen gas and dust rise within the Eagle Nebula, a star-forming region 6,500 light years away in the constellation Serpens. This photograph was taken on April 1, 1995 with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. It combines three images taken with separate filters—red for sulphur, green for hydrogen, blue for light emitted by doubly-ionized oxygen atoms.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage)09763YU
The North America Nebula sits inside the constellation of Cygnus. This image shows the tip of the nebula through a hydrogen-alpha filter (red), oxygen filter (green), and sulphur filter (blue).
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)10Winvb
This photograph shows the Wolf-Rayed star blowing off layers at high speeds. It was created using hydrogen alpha (red) and sulphur (blue) filters on the KPNO 4-Meter at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)117ud3J
Located 1,500 light years from earth, the IC 1340 is part of a large supernova remnant called the Cygnus Loop. In this image, oxygen appears blue, sulphur appears green, and hydrogen-alpha appears orange.
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Stars forming within the NGC 2237 Rosette Nebula generate massive winds that are creating a hole in its center. Hydrogen-alpha is red, oxygen is green, and sulphur is blue.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)13dQH75
Sh2-82 is a small emission nebula. This photograph was taken using B (blue), V (green), I (orange), and hydrogen-alpha (red) filters.
T.A. Rector and B.A. Wolpa (NRAO/AUI/NSF)1404086
This photograph of the Eagle Nebula was made using three filters—oxygen (blue), hydrogen-alpha (green) and sulphur (red).
T.A. Rector (NOAO/AURA/NSF) & Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA)15horsehead
The Horsehead Nebula is made up of a dense cloud of gas in front of an active star-forming region known as IC-434. At the very left side, you can see Zeta Origins, the easternmost of the three stars that form Orion’s belt. This photograph combines images taken using hydrogen alpha (red), oxygen (green), and sulphur (blur) filters.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)16tJ0ig
This image feature the Cygnus X-1 binary star system, which contains a black hole. Hydrogen alpha is rendered in red and sulphur in blue.
NASA/JPL-Caltech17The giant star Zeta Ophiuchi is having a "shocking" effect on the surrounding dust clouds in this infrared image from NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope. Stellar winds flowing out from this fast-moving star are making ripples in the dust as it approaches, creating a bow shock seen as glowing gossamer threads, which, for this star, are only seen in infrared light.
Winds flow from the fast-moving Zeta Ophiuchi star located 370 light years away. This photograph by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope was taken using infrared filters. Wavelengths at 3.6 and 3.5 microns appear blue, 8.0 microns appear green, and 24 microns appear red.
NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch, University of California, Santa Cruz; R. Bouwens, Leiden University; and the HUDF09 Team18690958main-p1237a1
Astronomers can create a single photograph from multiple exposures of the same stretch of sky, as they did with this famous image known as the eXtreme Deep Field. The photo combines 10 years of NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs and features about 5,500 galaxies.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)19c9NkM
This photographs shows a detail of the Elephant Trunk nebula. It was taken using hydrogen alpha, sulphur, and infrared, rendered respectively in red, blue, and orange.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)20sh2-239-2000-1 (dragged)
The nebula Sh2-239 contains two clusters of stars. This photograph combines images taken using B (blue) V (green), infrared (orange) and hydrogen-alpha (red) filters.
T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)21ldn810-2000-1 (dragged)
Stars form out of the gas and dust at the center of this image, which depicts a dark nebula called LDN 810. The photograph combines images taken using Us (violet), B (blue) and infrared (red) filters.
