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Swift’s UV Portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy

NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory viewed the spiral galaxy Andromeda. (Also called M31, in Ultraviolet light). The image is composed of 330 images from Swift's Ultraviolet Optical Telescope. 20,000 ultraviolet sources are visible in the photo, including M32, which is a small galaxy in orbit around M31.

Image Credits: NASA/Swift/Stefan Immler (GSFC) and Erin Grand (UMCP)

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Keyhole Nebula

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) detected the magnetic field streamlines of the Keyhole Nebula, a piece of the Carina Nebula.

This image was captured by the European Southern Observatory 3.6 metre telescope on La Silla.

Image Credits: NASA, the SOFIA Science team, Y. Seo; ESO

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Supermassive Black Hole

Gas swirling near the black hole blows bubbles into the surrounding galaxy cluster, while long gas filaments stretch far beyond the galaxy into the hot, X-ray-glowing gas around it.

The purple areas come from Chandra’s X-ray data, and Hubble's optical images show dust lanes, star-forming regions, nearby stars, and distant galaxies.

This galaxy sits at the center of the Perseus Cluster—an 11-million-light-year-wide group of galaxies surrounded by superheated gas that glows only in X-rays. The cluster gets its name from the constellation Perseus.

Credit: Image: NASA, ESA, and L. Frattare (STScI); Science: X-ray: NASA/CXC/IoA/A.Fabian et al.; Radio: NRAO/VLA/G. Taylor; Optical: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Fabian (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK)⁣

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Planetary Nebula Abell 7

Abell 7 is a faint planetary nebula about 1,800 light-years away, floating near Orion in Lepus's constellation. Spanning 8 light-years, this cosmic cloud glows with hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen, revealing intricate structures in deep-space images.

Its central star, a fading white dwarf, is around 10 billion years old, while the nebula itself is only 20,000 years old, a fleeting farewell in the life cycle of a star.

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Venus and the Triply Ultraviolet Sun

As Venus moved between Earth and the Sun, its phase shrank into a thin crescent until it became a perfect dark spot crossing our star.

This image, captured in ultraviolet light, shows the moment Venus passed in front of the Sun

Image Credit: NASA/SDO & the AIA, EVE, and HMI teams; Digital Composition: Peter L. Dove

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Dark Matter in a Simulated Universe

Dark matter is an invisible force shaping space. it's why galaxies spin so fast, clusters hold together, and light bends. The black filaments in this simulation show how dark matter stretches across the universe like a spider web, with rare clumps of matter glowing in orange/yellow.

fun fact: dark matter isn’t even the strangest thing out there. That title now belongs to dark energy, a force driving the universe’s expansion faster and faster.

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Jupiter Abyss

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NASA Image Of the Day

Taken Feb 12. 2025

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The Great Nebula in Orion

1,500 light-years away, surrounded by sheets of gas and dust, visible because of oxygen and hydrogen. You can spot the Orion Nebula near the three stars that make up the Belt of Orion.

The nebula is home to the Trapezium, a cluster of bright stars, and many stellar nurseries where new stars are born.

Also known as M42, the Orion Nebula spans 40 light-years and sits in the same spiral arm of the Milky Way as our Sun.

Photo taken Nov 4th, 2024

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Wolf-Rayet Star 124: Stellar Wind Machine

this is a rare Wolf-Rayet star that's tearing itself apart. These stars are so hot and unstable that they shed layers of gas over thousands of years. The glowing around WR 124 is called M1-67.

Each ejected gas glob is over 30 times the mass of Earth. Located 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagitta, this star’s fate remains uncertain.

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LDN 1471: A Windblown Star Cavity

We only see one side of the cavity, and the other is hidden by dark dust. The shape comes from the expanding stellar winds, the bright streaks on either side are Herbig-Haro objects formed as the star’s outflow collides with space dust.

This image was captured by NASA & ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope, following an original discovery by Spitzer, on November 17th, 2024.

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NGC 300: A galaxy of stars

At just 6 million light-years away, it’s one of the closest spiral galaxies to Earth, making its beauty crystal clear.

Even though we see all these stars, most of a galaxy’s mass comes from faint stars and mysterious dark matter. NGC 300 spans as much sky as the full moon and can be spotted with a small telescope in the southern constellation Sculptor.

This image was taken in October from Rio Hurtado, Chile.

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Supernova Remnants Big and Small

this image was taken at Oukaïmeden Observatory, Morocco.

The blue nebula at the top left is SNR G179.0+02.6, about 11,000 light-years away. It exploded 50,000 years ago. the blue glow comes from traces of oxygen mixed with hydrogen gas.

at the bottom right is the Spaghetti Nebula (Simeis 147), 3,000 light-years away. Its supernova exploded around 40,000 years ago.

these two remnants are roughly the same age and size.

Photo taken January 8th 2025

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North Star Polaris

Polaris marks the north spin axis of Earth, so as the planet turns, all the other stars revolve around it.

Polaris is easy to find. Just follow the two stars at the edge of the Big Dipper’s cup, and they’ll lead you right to it.

Polaris is also a pulsating star, subtly changing its brightness every few days.

January 14 2025

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Supernova 1987a

Captured on Feb. 24, 2017, this stunning image reveals the remnants of a star that exploded with the power of 100 million Suns. Settled in the Large Magellanic Cloud, SN 1987A has been dazzling astronomers since its discovery on Feb. 23, 1987.

It's the closest supernova we've observed in centuries, offering a front-row seat to the epic life cycle of a star. Surrounded by glowing red clouds of gas and dust.

⋅˚.⋆☾⁺₊ ‧

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M83: The Southern Pinwheel

This is a spiral galaxy located 12 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra, it is called The Southern Pinwheel bc of its prominent spiral arms filled with dust lanes and blue star clusters. Its reddish star-forming regions have earned it the nickname Thousand-Ruby Galaxy.

M83's core is bright in x-rays, indicating many neutron stars and black holes from a past starburst. This detailed image, featuring Milky Way stars and distant galaxies, was captured using the Dark Energy Camera and Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.

NASA's astronomy picture of the day Jan. 16. 2025

‎‧₊˚✩ 🪐✩˚₊‧

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Photo Taken Dec .17 .2024

Named the "Christmas Tree Cluster" NGC 2264

Located 2500 light-years from Earth, it is a cluster of young stars from 1-5 million years old.

This was captured using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Visual data from Michael Clow's telescope in Arizona

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