Amazing Space Pictures

Jupiter's Little Red Spot

This is one of the first close-ups of the Little Red Spot (center), Jupiter's second-largest storm, which formed when three smaller storms merged during the past decade. The picture is one of 700 observations the New Horizons spacecraft made of Jupiter in late February and early March 2007. The storm, about 70 percent of Earth's diameter, began turning red about a year ago. Scientists will use the image to learn how these systems form and why they change colors. -- More

Dying Star Bursts in Near-Perfect Symmetry

The newly discovered Red Square nebula is so symmetrical, it can be called one of the most beautiful objects in the universe. A dying Star called MWC 922 is located at the center of the nebula and is spewing its innards from opposite poles into space. What is particularly astonishing about the Red Square, researchers say, is the degree of symmetry seen in lines, or "rungs," that bisect its surface. Their makeup is uncertain. -- Full Story

Comet Lovejoy

This comet was discovered by Terry Lovejoy of Thornlands, Queensland, Australia, on March 15. He found it using a digital camera -- a Canon 350D with a zoom lens set to 200-mm focal length. It's probably the first time someone has discovered a comet in this way. John Drummond took this photo of it March 16, using a 16-inch telescope at the Possum Observatory in New Zealand.
-- Comet Set for April Show

Moon in Transit

The moon transited across the face of the sun on Feb. 25, 2007, but it could not be seen from Earth. This sight was visible only from the STEREO-B spacecraft in its orbit about the sun, trailing behind the Earth. NASA's STEREO mission consists of two spacecraft launched in 2006 to study solar storms. STEREO-B is about 1 million miles from the Earth, 4.4 times farther away from the moon than we are. As the result, the moon appears 4.4 times smaller than what we are used to.

Infrared View of a Dead Star

This image from the Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix Nebula, an object often photographed for its vivid colors and resemblance to a giant eye. Infrared light from the outer gaseous layers is shown in blues and greens. The white dwarf -- a dead star -- is visible as a tiny white dot at center. The red color in the middle denotes layers of gas blown out when the star died. The brighter red circle in the very center is the glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf. -- More

Comet McNaught

This picture taken from Pucon, Chile, shows Comet McNaught with a diffuse tail on the morning of Jan. 19. The comet was visible in the Northern Hemisphere in early January. After Jan. 14 the tail bands were still visible up north, while the whole comet lit up skies in the Southern Hemisphere. McNaught is the brightest comet in 40 years. -- More McNaught Photos

Famous Space Pillars Feel the Heat of Star's Explosion

Three iconic space pillars photographed by the Hubble Telescope in 1995 might have met their demise. This image from the Spitzer Telescope, released Jan. 9, 2007, shows the dust towers (green "fingers" right of center) next to a cloud of hot dust (in red) thought to have been scorched by an exploding star. The blast's shock wave could've toppled the towers 6,000 years ago. Light from the area takes 7,000 years to reach us, so we won't see the damage for 1,000 years. -- Story

A Star's Death Comes to Light: Kepler's Supernova Remnant

Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists created this image of one of the youngest, brightest supernova remnants in our galaxy. Released Jan. 9, 2007, this view helps astronomers figure out how the star exploded. More than 400 years ago, astronomer Johannes Kepler saw this supernova in the night sky as a very bright star that dimmed over a few weeks. Blue represents the highest energy X-rays and shows a shock front generated by the explosion. -- Learn More

Where Galactic Snakes Live

This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows what astronomers are referring to as a "snake" (upper left) and its surrounding stormy environment. The sinuous object is actually the core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens of solar systems. The "snake's belly" may be harboring beastly stars in the process of forming. The colorful regions at bottom are less dense cloud material, in which dust has been heated by starlight and glows with infrared light.

The Milky Way

This infrared image from the Spitzer Space Telescope shows hundreds of thousands of stars crowded into the core of our spiral Milky Way galaxy. In this false-color picture, old and cool stars are blue, while dust features lit up by blazing hot, massive stars are shown in red. The plane of the Milky Way's flat disk is apparent as the main, horizontal band of clouds. The brightest white spot in the middle is the very center of the galaxy, which also marks the site of a supermassive black hole.

Star Formation

This undated infrared image captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows colossal pillars of cool gas and dust that provide scientists with an intimate look at the star-forming process. The image reflects a region in space known as W5, in the constellation Cassiopeia some 7,000 light years away. The region is dominated by a single massive star.

Galactic Mask

The Spitzer image reveals that this "galactic mask" -- formed by two colliding galaxies -- is adorned with strings of pearl-like beads. These dusty clusters of newborn stars, called "beads on a string" by astronomers, appear as white balls throughout the arms of both galaxies. They were formed when the galaxies first interacted, forcing dust and gas to clump together into colonies of stars.

Perseus Cloud

Baby stars are forming near the eastern rim of the cosmic cloud Perseus, in this infrared image from the Spitzer Space Telescope. The baby stars are approximately 3 million years old and are shown as reddish-pink dots to the right of the image. The pinkish color indicates that these infant stars are still shrouded by the cosmic dust and gas that collapsed to form them. The Perseus Nebula can be seen as the large green cloud at the center of the image.

Stellar Debris in the Large Magellanic Cloud

This is a composite image of N49, the brightest supernova remnant in optical light in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Chandra X-ray image (blue) shows million-degree gas in the center. Much cooler gas at the outer parts of the remnant is seen in the infrared image from Spitzer (red). Much of the infrared is generated by heated gas. The unique filamentary structure seen in the optical image by Hubble (white & yellow) has long set N49 apart from other well understood supernova remnants, as most remnants appear roughly circular in visible light.

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