The Orion Nebula from VLT
The Great Nebula in Orion is a colorful place. Visible to the unaided eye, it appears as a small fuzzy patch in the constellation of Orion. But this image, a representative-color composite of 81 near-infrared light images taken with VLT's ISAAC, ...
An Airplane in Front of the Sun
Sometimes, good planes come to those who wait. Experienced solar photographer Thierry Lagault had noticed planes crossing in front of the Sun from his home in suburban Paris. He then got the idea for the above photograph, but had to wait ...
CMB Dipole: Speeding Through the...
Our Earth is not at rest. The Earth moves around the Sun. The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy orbits in the Local Group of Galaxies. The Local Group falls toward the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. But these ...
The Moons Of Earth
While orbiting the planet during their June 1998 mission, the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery photographed this view of two moons of Earth. Thick storm clouds are visible in the lovely blue planet's nurturing atmosphere and its largest ...
Galaxies Of The Virgo Cluster
Well over a thousand galaxies are known members of the Virgo Cluster, the closest large cluster of galaxies to our own local group. The galaxy cluster is difficult to see all at once because it covers such a large area on the sky. Still, this ...
Sail On, Stardust
Spacecraft on long interplanetary voyages often use the planets themselves as gravitational "sling shots" to boost them along their way. Launched in February of 1999 on a historic voyage to a comet, the Stardust spacecraft is no different. On 15 ...
NGC 3603: X-Rays From A Starburst...
A mere 20,000 light-years from the Sun lies the NGC 3603 star cluster, a resident of the nearby Carina spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. Seen here in this recent false-color x-ray image from the Chandra Observatory, NGC 3603 is well known to ...
Spherical Planetary Nebula Abell 39
One of the largest spheres in our Galaxy is giving valuable clues about the chemical composition of stars by its very shape. Planetary nebula Abell 39, now six light-years across, was once a sun-like star's outer atmosphere expelled thousands of ...
Resolving Mira
Most stars appear only as points of light. In 1995, Betelgeuse became the second star, after our Sun, to have it surface resolved. Later that year, Mira was added to the list. Mira A is a red giant star undergoing dramatic pulsations, causing ...
Helios Helium
This image of the active Sun was made using ultraviolet light emitted by ionized Helium atoms in the Solar chromosphere. Helium was first discovered in the Sun in 1868, its name fittingly derived from from the Greek word Helios, meaning Sun. ...
