Mini Milky Way
Stellar nurseries line up like bulbs on a string of Christmas lights in this Hubble Space Telescope image of the…
The Great Debate
Astronomers Harlow Shapley (left) and Heber Curtis staged one of the most famous discussions in the history of astronomy on…
Pale Blue Marble
Views of Earth from space, especially this one taken by Apollo 8 astronauts from lunar orbit in December 1968, helped…
Sniffing for Life
The Mars rover Curiosity snapped this selfie in February. It used a camera on its robotic arm to take several…
Survival
More than half way to the Moon, Apollo 13 was crippled by an explosion 50 years ago, forcing the astronauts…
Big Bubble
Clouds of gas and dust billow away from an exploded star, forming the Vela Supernova Remnant. It is about 800…
Inhospitable Planet
Comets and asteroids bombard the surface of a planet orbiting the star Tau Ceti in this artist’s concept. The star…
Arming a Galaxy
An extra set of spiral arms glows bright red in this composite image of Messier 106, a spiral galaxy in…
Beautiful Encounter
Venus, the brilliant Evening Star, will move past the Pleiades star cluster in early April. This is a zoomed-in view…
Hot Moon
An artist’s concept depicts a possible moon (lower left) orbiting the planet WASP-49b (right). The moon is hinted at in…