The Bubble Nebula is an emission nebula located 8,000 light-years away from Earth.
Often found in regions of space where new stars are forming, emission nebulae are hot, glowing clouds of gas.
The center of our Milky Way galaxy contains a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A* — the bright white spot on the right side of this photo.
Located in the Scorpius constellation, the open cluster Pismis 24 is home to several massive stars.
An open cluster is a group of stars — often a few hundred or thousand — that are held together by mutual gravitation.
The Lobster Nebula is a diffuse nebula located about 5,500 light-years from Earth.
The unique, rose-like shape of the larger of these two galaxies is caused by the gravitational pull of the one below it.
The Antennae Galaxies are currently going through a starburst phase in which clouds of gas and dust collide and cause rapid star formation.
The largest planet in our Solar System, Jupiter has a trademark Great Red Spot that is roughly 1.3 times as wide as Earth.
NGC 602 is an open cluster located in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way.
The Carina Nebula is located 7,500 light-years away from Earth.
More formally known as cold molecular pillars, an elephant trunk is a term used to describe formations of interstellar matter in space. Interstellar matter is mostly made of gas and dust.
The Westerlund 2 star cluster is estimated to be about one or two million years old.
The picturesque Whirlpool Galaxy is in the process of merging with a smaller galaxy, as seen on the right side of this photo.
Both of these spiral galaxies are located 55 million light-years away from Earth in the Virgo Cluster.
The Veil Nebula is the remnant of a supernova explosion that occurred around 10,000 years ago.
In simplest terms, a supernova is a bright, powerful explosion of a dying massive star.
This is a star forming region in the Cygnus, or Swan, constellation.
These two supermassive black holes began merging around 30 million years ago.
Located 6,500 light-years from Earth, the Crab Nebula is widely accepted to be a supernova remnant from 1054 A.D.
These merging spiral galaxies have been the site of three supernova explosions within the last 15 years.
The Tarantula Nebula is a star forming region located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a spiral galaxy near the Milky Way.
The Cat's Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula located 3,000 light-years away from Earth.
A planetary nebula is an expanding, ring-shaped cloud of gas that forms around an aging star. Several billion years from now, the Sun will experience this phase of stellar evolution.
Also known as Barnard 33, the Horsehead Nebula is a dark nebula located in the Orion constellation.
The Butterfly Nebula is a planetary nebula in the Scorpius constellation that contains one of the hottest known stars in the Milky Way.
With an estimated temperature of about 250,000 degrees Celsius, the dying star at the center of this nebula used to be five times the mass of the Sun.
This star forming region is located about 20,000 light-years away from Earth, in the Carina constellation.
The colorful Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant in the Cassiopeia constellation.
As its name implies, Stephan's Quintet is a compact group of five galaxies in the Pegasus constellation.
These elephant trunks are known as the Pillars of Creation, an active region of star formation in the Milky Way.
This star forming cluster can be found in the LMC in N44, an emission nebula with a superbubble structure.
The Sombrero Galaxy has a diameter of 50,000 light-years, which is about 30% the size of the Milky Way.
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