Star Cocoon
Like a cosmic butterfly, a cluster of young stars is just emerging from its cocoon — a cloud of gas…
Mesmerizing Moons
Saturn’s moons Iapetus (left), Mimas, and Dione show fascinating histories. One hemisphere of Iapetus is almost pure white, while the…
Tie-Dyed Sky
A multi-colored aurora shimmers above Alaska in this 2017 image. Anaurora flares to life when charged particles from the Sun…
Surveying the Moon
The first American spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon snapped this image of its own shadow on June 13, 1966,…
Science at the South Pole
The Milky Way and the southern lights glisten above the South Pole Telescope, which takes advantage of the cold, thin…
Martian Twisters
Three dust devils twirl across Mars in this image from Trace Gas Orbiter, a spacecraft that’s studying the Martian atmosphere.…
To the Rescue!
A venerable X-ray telescope in Earth orbit is scheduled for a rescue soon. The Swift observatory has been losing altitude,…
‘A Most Beautiful Cluster’
The heart of Messier 13, the Great Hercules Cluster, sparkles in this recent Hubble Space Telescope image. In 1779, William…
Southern Cross
The constellation Crux, the southern cross, is depicted on the flags and military insignia of many countries. [Wikipedia]
Brilliant Spiral
Messier 77, a beautiful spiral galaxy 45 million light-years from Earth, shines brilliantly in this infrared image from James Webb…