Browse Archive

  • Artist's concept of dusty beginnings of a star

    Dusty Beginnings of a Star

    This artist's rendering gives us a glimpse into a cosmic nursery as a star is born from the dark, swirling dust and gas of this cloud.

  • Twin brown dwarfs

    Twin Brown Dwarfs Wrapped in a Blanket

    This image shows two young brown dwarfs, objects that fall somewhere between planets and stars in terms of their temperature and mass.

  • Image of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy

    NASA's Great Observatories Examine the Galactic Center Region

    In this spectacular image, observations using infrared light and X-ray light see through the obscuring dust and reveal the intense activity near the galactic core.

  • Trio of images of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy

    NASA's Great Observatories Present Unique Views of the Center of the Milky Way

    In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, NASA's Great Observatories -- the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory -- have produced a matched trio of images of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy.

  • An infrared image of the young star HR 8799

    A Picture of Unsettled Planetary Youth

    NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this infrared image of a giant halo of very fine dust around the young star HR 8799, located 129 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus.

  • This artist's concept shows a cloudy Jupiter-like planet that orbits very close to its fiery hot star.

    Exotic Atmospheres

    The basic chemistry for life has been detected in a second hot gas planet, HD 209458b, depicted in this artist's concept.

  • a slice of Saturn's largest ring

    Big Band of Dust

    This picture shows a slice of Saturn's largest ring, as seen in infrared light by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

  • This artist's conception simulates an infrared view of a nearly invisible ring around Saturn spotted by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

    Saturn's Infrared Ring

    NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted a nearly invisible ring around Saturn -- the largest of the giant planet's many rings.

  • This diagram illustrates the extent of the largest ring around Saturn, discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

    The King of Rings

    This diagram illustrates the extent of the largest ring around Saturn, discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

  • Infrared ring around Saturn

    Infrared Ring Around Saturn

    This diagram highlights a slice of Saturn's largest ring.

  • An animation still showing the orbit of the moon Phoebe and Saturn's newfound ring

    Saturn Family Tour

    This video showcases the Saturnian system, beginning with the planet itself and panning out to its newest addition.

  • This artist's conception shows a lump of material in a swirling, planet-forming disk.

    Lump of Planetary Stuff

    This artist's conception shows a lump of material in a swirling, planet-forming disk.

  • image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope shows the star-forming cloud Cepheus B, located in our Milky Way galaxy about 2,400 light years from Earth

    Trigger-Happy Cloud

    This composite image, combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope shows the star-forming cloud Cepheus B, located in our Milky Way galaxy about 2,400 light years from Earth.

  • This artist's concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury.

    Planetary Smash-Up

    This artist's concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury.

  • NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has imaged a wild creature of the dark -- a coiled galaxy with an eye-like object at its center.

    Coiled Creature of the Night

    NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has imaged a wild creature of the dark -- a coiled galaxy with an eye-like object at its center.

  • data reveal a newborn star at the center of our Milky Way

    Telltale Signs of Stellar Youth

    These data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal a newborn star at the center of our Milky Way.

  • three baby stars in the bustling center of our Milky Way galaxy

    Baby Stars in Galactic Rat's Nest

    This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows three baby stars in the bustling center of our Milky Way galaxy.

  • A young sun-like star encircled by its planet-forming disk of gas and dust.

    Silicate Crystal Formation in the Disk of an Erupting Star

    This artist's concept illustrates how silicate crystals like those found in comets can be created by an outburst from a growing star.

  • image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

    Why Are Galaxies So Smooth?

    This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the spiral galaxy NGC 2841, located about 46 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major.

  • Cool Stars May Have Different Prebiotic Chemical Mix

    Cool Stars May Have Different Prebiotic Chemical Mix

    NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope detected a prebiotic, or potentially life-forming, molecule called hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in the planet-forming disks around yellow stars like our sun, but not in the disks around cooler, reddish stars.