Download pictures of the universe. Cosmic Beauty: Amazing Images of the Universe Captured by the Hubble Telescope

Mysterious nebulae, which are millions of light years away, the birth of new stars and collisions of galaxies. A selection of the best photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope in recent times.

1. Dark nebulae in a cluster of young stars. Shown here is a section of the Eagle Nebula star cluster, which formed about 5.5 million years ago and is located 6,500 light-years from Earth. (Photo ESA | Hubble & NASA):

2. The giant galaxy NGC 7049, located 100 million light years from Earth, in the constellation Indian. (Photo by NASA, ESA and W. Harris - McMaster University, Ontario, Canada):

3. The emission nebula Sh2-106 is located two thousand light years from Earth. It is a compact star-forming region. At its center is the star S106 IR, which is surrounded by dust and hydrogen - in the photograph it is colored blue. (Photo by NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team, STScI | AURA, and NAOJ):

4. Abell 2744, also known as the Pandora Cluster, is a giant cluster of galaxies, the result of the simultaneous collision of at least four separate small clusters of galaxies that occurred over the course of 350 million years. The galaxies in the cluster make up less than five percent of its mass, and the gas (about 20%) is so hot that it glows only in X-rays. Mysterious dark matter makes up about 75% of the cluster's mass. (Photo by NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz, M. Mountain, A. Koekemoer, & the HFF Team):

5. “Caterpillar” and the Carina emission nebula (a region of ionized hydrogen) in the constellation Carina. (Photo by NASA, ESA, N. Smith, University of California, Berkeley, and The Hubble Heritage Team. STScI | AURA):

6. Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1566 (SBbc) in the constellation Doradus. It is located 40 million light years away. (Photo by ESA | Hubble & NASA, Flickr user Det58):

7. IRAS 14568-6304 is a young star located 2500 light years from Earth. This dark region is the Circinus molecular cloud, which has 250,000 solar masses and is filled with gas, dust and young stars. (Photo by ESA | Hubble & NASA Acknowledgments: R. Sahai | JPL, Serge Meunier):

8. Portrait of a star kindergarten. Hundreds of brilliant blue stars covered in warm, glowing clouds make up R136, a compact star cluster that lies at the center of the Tarantula Nebula.

The R136 cluster consists of young stars, giants and supergiants, estimated to be approximately 2 million years old. (Photo by NASA, ESA, and F. Paresce, INAF-IASF, Bologna, R. O"Connell, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee):

9. Spiral galaxy NGC 7714 in the constellation Pisces. Located at a distance of 100 million light years from Earth. (Photo by ESA, NASA, A. Gal-Yam, Weizmann Institute of Science):

10. The image taken by the orbiting Hubble Telescope shows the warm planetary Red Spider Nebula, also known as NGC 6537.

This unusual wave-like structure is located about 3,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. A planetary nebula is an astronomical object consisting of an ionized shell of gas and a central star, a white dwarf. They are formed when the outer layers of red giants and supergiants with a mass of up to 1.4 solar masses are shed at the final stage of their evolution. (Photo by ESA & Garrelt Mellema, Leiden University, the Netherlands):

11. The Horsehead Nebula is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion. One of the most famous nebulae. It is visible as a dark spot in the shape of a horse's head against the background of a red glow. This glow is explained by the ionization of hydrogen clouds located behind the nebula under the influence of radiation from the nearest bright star (Z Orionis). (Photo by NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team, AURA | STScI):

12. This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 1433 in the constellation Hours. It is located at a distance of 32 million light years from us, and is a type of very active galaxy/ (Photo by Space Scoop | ESA | Hubble & NASA, D. Calzetti, UMass and the LEGU.S. Team):

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that the gravity of large cosmic objects such as galaxies bends the space around them and bends light rays. In this case, a distorted image of another galaxy appears - the source of light. The galaxy that bends space is called a gravitational lens. (Photo ESA | Hubble & NASA):

14. Nebula NGC 3372 in the constellation Carina. A large bright nebula that contains several open star clusters within its boundaries. (Photo by NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team, STScI):

15. Abell 370 is a cluster of galaxies at a distance of about 4 billion light years in the constellation Cetus. The cluster core consists of several hundred galaxies. It is the most distant cluster. These galaxies are located at a distance of about 5 billion light years. (Photo by NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz and the HFF Team, STScI):

16. Galaxy NGC 4696 in the constellation Centaurus. Located 145 million light years from Earth. It is the brightest galaxy in the Centaurus cluster. The galaxy is surrounded by many dwarf elliptical galaxies. (Photo by NASA, ESA | Hubble, A. Fabian):

17. Located within the Perseus-Pisces galaxy cluster, the UGC 12591 galaxy attracts the attention of astronomers with its unusual shape - it is neither lenticular nor spiral, that is, it exhibits features characteristic of both classes.

The star cluster UGC 12591 is relatively massive - its mass, as scientists have been able to calculate, is about four times higher than that of our Milky Way.

At the same time, the galaxy of a unique shape also very quickly changes its spatial position, at the same time rotating around its axis at an anomalously high speed. Scientists have yet to understand the reasons for such a high speed of rotation of UGC 12591 around its axis. (Photo ESA | Hubble & NASA):

18. How many stars! This is the center of our Milky Way, 26,000 light-years away. (ESA Photo | A. Calamida and K. Sahu, STScI and the SWEEPS Science Team | NASA):

The Hubble Space Telescope is an automatic observatory in orbit around the Earth, named after Edwin Hubble. The Hubble Telescope is a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency; it is one of NASA's Large Observatories. Placing a telescope in space makes it possible to detect electromagnetic radiation in ranges in which the earth's atmosphere is opaque; primarily in the infrared range. Due to the absence of atmospheric influence, the resolution of the telescope is 7-10 times greater than that of a similar telescope located on Earth. We now invite you to see the best images from this unique telescope over the past few years. In the photo: The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest giant galaxy to our Milky Way. Most likely, our Galaxy looks about the same as the Andromeda Galaxy. These two galaxies dominate the Local Group of galaxies.

The hundreds of billions of stars that make up the Andromeda Galaxy combine to produce a visible, diffuse glow. The individual stars in the image are actually stars in our Galaxy, located much closer to the distant object. The Andromeda Galaxy is often called M31 because it is the 31st object in Charles Messier's catalog of diffuse celestial objects.

At the center of the Doradus star-forming region is a gigantic cluster of the largest, hottest, and most massive stars known to us. These stars form the R136 cluster captured in this image.

NGC 253: Brilliant NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies we see, yet one of the dustiest. Some call it the “Silver Dollar Galaxy” because it is shaped like that in a small telescope. Others simply call it the “Sculptor Galaxy” because it lies within the southern constellation Sculptor. This dusty galaxy is located 10 million light years away.

Galaxy M83 is one of the closest spiral galaxies to us. From the distance that separates us from her, equal to 15 million light years, she looks completely ordinary. However, if we take a closer look at the center of M83 using the largest telescopes, the region appears to be a turbulent and noisy place.

The group of galaxies is Stefan's Quintet. However, only four galaxies in the group, located three hundred million light years away, participate in the cosmic dance, moving closer and further away from each other. The four interacting galaxies - NGC 7319, NGC 7318A, NGC 7318B and NGC 7317 - have yellowish colors and curved loops and tails, the shape of which is caused by the influence of destructive tidal gravitational forces. The bluish galaxy NGC 7320, pictured above left, is much closer than the others, just 40 million light-years away.

A giant cluster of stars distorts and splits the image of the galaxy. Many of them are images of a single unusual, beady, blue ring-shaped galaxy that happens to be located behind a giant cluster of galaxies. According to recent research, in total, at least 330 images of individual distant galaxies can be found in the picture. This stunning photograph of the galaxy cluster CL0024+1654 was taken in November 2004.

Spiral galaxy NGC 3521 lies just 35 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Leo. It has features such as jagged, irregular spiral arms adorned with dust, pinkish star-forming regions, and clusters of young bluish stars.

Spiral galaxy M33 is a medium-sized galaxy from the Local Group. M33 is also called the Triangulum galaxy after the constellation in which it is located. M33 is not far from the Milky Way, its angular dimensions are more than twice the size of the full Moon, i.e. it is perfectly visible with good binoculars.

Lagoon Nebula. The bright Lagoon Nebula contains many different astronomical objects. Particularly interesting objects include a bright open star cluster and several active star forming regions. When viewed visually, the light from the cluster is lost against the overall red glow caused by hydrogen emission, while the dark filaments arise from the absorption of light by dense layers of dust.

The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the most famous planetary nebulae in the sky.

The small constellation Chameleon is located near the south pole of the World. The picture reveals the amazing features of the modest constellation, which reveals many dusty nebulae and colorful stars. Blue reflection nebulae are scattered across the field.

The dark, dusty Horsehead Nebula and the glowing Orion Nebula contrast in the sky. They are located 1,500 light years away in the direction of the most recognizable celestial constellation. The familiar Horsehead Nebula is a small dark cloud in the shape of a horse's head, silhouetted against a background of red glowing gas in the lower left corner of the picture.

Crab Nebula. This confusion remained after the star exploded. The Crab Nebula is the result of a supernova explosion observed in 1054 AD. At the very center of the nebula is a pulsar - a neutron star with a mass equal to the mass of the Sun, which fits into an area the size of a small town.

This is a mirage from a gravitational lens. The bright red galaxy (LRG) shown in this photograph has been distorted by its gravity to the light from a more distant blue galaxy. Most often, such a distortion of light leads to the appearance of two images of a distant galaxy, but in the case of a very precise superposition of the galaxy and the gravitational lens, the images merge into a horseshoe - an almost closed ring. This effect was predicted by Albert Einstein 70 years ago.

Star V838 Mon. For unknown reasons, in January 2002, the outer shell of the star V838 Mon suddenly expanded, making it the brightest star in the entire Milky Way. Then she became weak again, also suddenly. Astronomers have never observed such stellar flares before.

Ring Nebula. She really looks like a ring in the sky. Therefore, hundreds of years ago, astronomers named this nebula according to its unusual shape. The Ring Nebula is also designated M57 and NGC 6720.

Column and jets in the Carina Nebula. This cosmic column of gas and dust is two light years wide. The structure is located in one of the largest star-forming regions of our Galaxy. The Carina Nebula is visible in the southern sky and is 7,500 light-years away.

Trifid Nebula. The beautiful, multi-colored Trifid Nebula allows you to explore cosmic contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. The size of the nebula is about 40 light years.

Known as NGC 5194, this large galaxy with a well-developed spiral structure may have been the first spiral nebula discovered. It is clearly visible that its spiral arms and dust lanes pass in front of its satellite galaxy, NGC 5195 (left). The pair are located about 31 million light years away and officially belong to the small constellation Canes Venatici.

Centaurus A. A fantastic pile of young blue star clusters, giant glowing gas clouds and dark dust lanes surround the central region of the active galaxy Centaurus A.

Butterfly Nebula. Bright clusters and nebulae in Earth's night sky are often named after flowers or insects, and NGC 6302 is no exception. The central star of this planetary nebula is exceptionally hot: its surface temperature is about 250 thousand degrees Celsius.

An image of a supernova that exploded in 1994 on the outskirts of a spiral galaxy.

Galaxy Sombrero. Galaxy M104's appearance resembles a hat, which is why it is called the Sombrero Galaxy. The image shows distinct dark lanes of dust and a bright halo of stars and globular clusters. The reasons why the Sombrero Galaxy looks like a hat are the unusually large central stellar bulge and the dense dark lanes of dust located in the galaxy's disk, which we see almost edge-on.

M17: close-up view. Formed by stellar winds and radiation, these fantastic wave-like formations are found in the M17 (Omega Nebula) nebula. The Omega Nebula is located in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius and is 5,500 light-years away. The patchy clumps of dense, cold gas and dust are illuminated by radiation from the stars in the image at top right and could become sites of star formation in the future.

What does the IRAS 05437+2502 nebula illuminate? There is no exact answer. Particularly puzzling is the bright, inverted V-shaped arc that outlines the top edge of the mountain-like clouds of interstellar dust near the center of the image.

"Star Power"

The Horsehead Nebula is located in the constellation Orion and is a type of so-called dark nebula - interstellar clouds so dense that they absorb visible light from other nebulae or stars behind them. The Horsehead Nebula is about 3.5 light years in diameter.

"Heavenly Wings"

Butterfly Nebula / ©NASA

"Take off your hat"

Sombrero Galaxy / ©NASA

"Unsurpassed beauty"

This image, taken in September 2004, is one of the largest ever taken by the Hubble Telescope. Which is not at all surprising, since it shows the entire galaxy.

"Pillars of Creation"

"Pillars of Creation" / ©NASA

(average: 4,62 out of 5)

Mysterious nebulae, which are millions of light years away, the birth of new stars and collisions of galaxies. Part 2 of a selection of the best photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope. The first part is located.

This is part Carina Nebula. The total diameter of the nebula is more than 200 light years. Located 8,000 light-years from Earth, the Carina Nebula can be seen in the southern sky with the naked eye. Is one of the brightest areas in the Galaxy:

Hubble's ultra-long-range viewing area (WFC3 camera). Composed of gas and dust:

Another photo Carina Nebula:

By the way, let's get to know the culprit of today's report. This Hubble telescope in space. Placing a telescope in space makes it possible to detect electromagnetic radiation in ranges in which the earth's atmosphere is opaque; primarily in the infrared range. Due to the absence of atmospheric influence, the resolution of the telescope is 7-10 times greater than that of a similar telescope located on Earth.

The Discovery shuttle, launched on April 24, 1990, launched the telescope into its intended orbit the next day. The total cost of the project, according to estimates in 1999, amounted to 6 billion dollars on the American side and 593 million euros were paid by the European Space Agency.

Globular cluster in the constellation Centaurus. It is located 18,300 light years away. Omega Centauri belongs to our Milky Way galaxy and is its largest globular cluster currently known. It contains several million stars. The age of Omega Centauri is determined to be 12 billion years:

Butterfly Nebula ( NGC 6302) - planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpio. It has one of the most complex structures among the known polar nebulae. Central star of the nebula one of the hottest in the galaxy. The central star was discovered by the Hubble telescope in 2009:

The largest in the solar system. Along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, Jupiter is classified as a gas giant. Jupiter has at least 63 satellites. Mass of Jupiter 2.47 times the total mass of all other planets in the Solar System taken together, 318 times the mass of our Earth and approximately 1,000 times less than the mass of the Sun:

A few more images Carina Nebula:

Part of a galaxy - a dwarf galaxy located at a distance of about 50 kiloparsecs from our Galaxy. This distance is less than twice the diameter of our Galaxy:

And yet the photographs Carina Nebula some of the most beautiful:

Spiral Whirlpool Galaxy. It is located at a distance of about 30 million light years from us in the constellation Canes Venatici. The diameter of the galaxy is about 100 thousand light years:

An amazing image of a planetary planet was captured using the Hubble Space Telescope. Retina Nebula, which was formed from the remnants of the dying star IC 4406. Like most nebulae, the Retina Nebula is almost perfectly symmetrical, its right half is almost a mirror image of the left. In a few million years, all that will remain of IC 4406 is a slowly cooling white dwarf:

M27 is one of the brightest planetary nebulae in the sky and can be seen with binoculars in the constellation Vulpecula. The light takes about a thousand years to reach us from M27:

It looks like smoke and sparks from fireworks, but it's actually debris from the explosion of a star in a nearby galaxy. Our Sun and the planets of the Solar System were formed from similar debris that appeared after a supernova explosion billions of years ago in the Milky Way galaxy:

In the constellation Virgo at a distance of 28 million light years from Earth. The Sombrero Galaxy gets its name from its protruding central part (bulge) and ridge of dark matter, giving the galaxy the appearance of a sombrero hat:

The exact distance to it is unknown; according to various estimates, it can range from 2 to 9 thousand light years. Width 50 light years. The nebula's name means "divided into three petals":

Helix Nebula NGC 7293 in the constellation Aquarius at a distance of 650 light years from the Sun. One of the closest planetary nebulae and was discovered in 1824:

Located in the constellation Eridanus, at a distance of 61 million light years from Earth. The size of the galaxy itself is 110 thousand light years, which is slightly larger than our galaxy, the Milky Way. NGC 1300 is unlike some spiral galaxies, including our Galaxy, in that it does not have a massive black hole at its core:

Dust clouds in our Milky Way galaxy. Our Milky Way galaxy, also called simply the Galaxy (with a capital letter), is a giant spiral star system in which our solar system is located. The diameter of the Galaxy is about 30 thousand parsecs (about 100,000 light years) with an estimated average thickness of about 1,000 light years. The Milky Way contains, according to the lowest estimate, about 200 billion stars. There appears to be a supermassive black hole at the center of the Galaxy:

On the right, above, these are not fireworks, this is a dwarf galaxy - a satellite of our Milky Way. Located at a distance of about 60 kiloparsecs in the constellation Tucana:

Formed during the collision of four massive galaxies. This is the first time this phenomenon has been visualized using a combination of images. Galaxies are surrounded by hot gas, which is shown in different colors depending on its temperature: reddish-purple is the coldest, blue is the hottest:

It is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System after Jupiter. Today we know that all four gaseous giants have rings, but Saturn's is the most prominent. Saturn's rings are very thin. With a diameter of about 250,000 km, their thickness does not reach even a kilometer. The mass of the planet Saturn is 95 times greater than the mass of our Earth:

In the constellation Dorado. The nebula belongs to the Milky Way's satellite galaxy - the Large Magellanic Cloud:

Measuring 100 thousand light years and located 35 million light years from the Sun:

And a bonus shot. From the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 00 hours 12 minutes 44 seconds Moscow time today, June 8, 2011, the ship was successfully launched "Soyuz TMA-02M". This is the second flight of the ship of the new, “digital” Soyuz-TMA-M series. Nice start:

In contact with

Today, on Cosmonautics Day, we will enjoy images from the Hubble orbital telescope, which has been in orbit of our planet for more than twenty years and continues to reveal to us the secrets of space to this day.

NGC 5194

Known as NGC 5194, this large galaxy with a well-developed spiral structure may have been the first spiral nebula discovered. It is clearly visible that its spiral arms and dust lanes pass in front of its satellite galaxy - NGC 5195 (left). The pair are located about 31 million light years away and officially belong to the small constellation Canes Venatici.

Spiral galaxy M33- a medium-sized galaxy from the Local Group. M33 is also called the Triangulum galaxy after the constellation in which it is located. About 4 times smaller (in radius) than our Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), M33 is much larger than many dwarf galaxies. Because M33 is close to M31, some think it is a satellite of this more massive galaxy. M33 is not far from the Milky Way, its angular dimensions are more than twice the size of the full Moon, i.e. it is perfectly visible with good binoculars.

Stefan Quintet

The group of galaxies is Stefan's Quintet. However, only four galaxies in the group, located three hundred million light years away, participate in the cosmic dance, moving closer and further away from each other. It's quite easy to find extra ones. The four interacting galaxies - NGC 7319, NGC 7318A, NGC 7318B and NGC 7317 - have yellowish colors and curved loops and tails, the shape of which is caused by the influence of destructive tidal gravitational forces. The bluish galaxy NGC 7320, located in the image at the top left, is much closer than the others, only 40 million light years away.

Andromeda Galaxy- This is the closest giant galaxy to our Milky Way. Most likely, our Galaxy looks about the same as the Andromeda Galaxy. These two galaxies dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The hundreds of billions of stars that make up the Andromeda Galaxy combine to produce a visible, diffuse glow. The individual stars in the image are actually stars in our Galaxy, located much closer to the distant object. The Andromeda Galaxy is often called M31 because it is the 31st object in Charles Messier's catalog of diffuse celestial objects.

Lagoon Nebula

The bright Lagoon Nebula contains many different astronomical objects. Particularly interesting objects include a bright open star cluster and several active star forming regions. When viewed visually, the light from the cluster is lost against the overall red glow caused by hydrogen emission, while the dark filaments arise from the absorption of light by dense layers of dust.

The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the most famous planetary nebulae in the sky. Its haunting, symmetrical shape is visible in the central portion of this dramatic false-color image, specially processed to reveal a huge but very faint halo of gaseous material, some three light-years in diameter, that surrounds the bright, familiar planetary nebula.

The small constellation Chameleon is located near the south pole of the World. The picture reveals the amazing features of the modest constellation, which reveals many dusty nebulae and colorful stars. Blue reflection nebulae are scattered across the field.

Cosmic dust clouds glowing faintly with reflected starlight. Far from familiar places on planet Earth, they lurk on the edge of the Cephei Halo molecular cloud complex, 1,200 light-years away. Nebula Sh2-136, located near the center of the field, is brighter than other ghostly apparitions. Its size is more than two light years, and it is visible even in infrared light

The dark, dusty Horsehead Nebula and the glowing Orion Nebula contrast in the sky. They are located 1,500 light years away in the direction of the most recognizable celestial constellation. And in today's remarkable composite photograph, the nebulae occupy opposite corners. The familiar Horsehead Nebula is a small, dark cloud in the shape of a horse's head, silhouetted against a background of red glowing gas in the lower left corner of the picture.

Crab Nebula

This confusion remained after the star exploded. The Crab Nebula is the result of a supernova explosion observed in 1054 AD. The supernova remnant is filled with mysterious filaments. The filaments are not just complex to look at. The extent of the Crab Nebula is ten light years. At the very center of the nebula is a pulsar, a neutron star with a mass equal to the mass of the Sun, which fits into an area the size of a small town.

This is a mirage from a gravitational lens. The bright red galaxy (LRG) shown in this photograph has been distorted by its gravity to the light from a more distant blue galaxy. Most often, such a distortion of light leads to the appearance of two images of a distant galaxy, but in the case of a very precise superposition of the galaxy and the gravitational lens, the images merge into a horseshoe - an almost closed ring. This effect was predicted by Albert Einstein 70 years ago.

Star V838 Mon

For unknown reasons, in January 2002, the outer shell of the star V838 Mon suddenly expanded, making it the brightest star in the entire Milky Way. Then she became weak again, also suddenly. Astronomers have never seen a stellar flare like this before.

Birth of planets

How are planets formed? To try to find out, the Hubble Space Telescope was tasked with taking a closer look at one of the most interesting of all nebulae in the sky - the Great Orion Nebula. The Orion Nebula can be seen with the naked eye near the belt of the constellation Orion. The insets in this photo show numerous proplyds, many of them stellar nurseries that likely house forming planetary systems.

Star cluster R136

Brilliant NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies we see, yet one of the dustiest. Some call it the "Silver Dollar Galaxy" because it is shaped like that in a small telescope. Others simply call it the "Sculptor Galaxy" because it lies within the southern constellation Sculptor. This dusty galaxy is 10 million light years away

Galaxy M83

Galaxy M83 is one of the closest spiral galaxies to us. From the distance that separates us from her, equal to 15 million light years, she looks completely ordinary. However, if we take a closer look at the center of M83 using the largest telescopes, the region appears to be a turbulent and noisy place.

Ring Nebula

She really looks like a ring in the sky. Therefore, hundreds of years ago, astronomers named this nebula according to its unusual shape. The Ring Nebula is also designated M57 and NGC 6720. The Ring Nebula belongs to the class of planetary nebulae; these are gas clouds that emit stars similar to the Sun at the end of their lives. Its size exceeds the diameter. This is one of Hubble's early images.

Column and jets in the Carina Nebula

This cosmic column of gas and dust is two light years wide. The structure is located in one of the largest star-forming regions of our Galaxy, the Carina Nebula, which is visible in the southern sky and is 7,500 light-years away.

Center of the Omega Centauri globular cluster

At the center of the globular cluster Omega Centauri, the stars are packed ten thousand times more densely than the stars in the vicinity of the Sun. The image shows many faint yellow-white stars smaller than our Sun, several orange red giants, and the occasional blue star. If two stars suddenly collide, they can form one more massive star, or they can form a new binary system.

A giant cluster distorts and splits the image of the galaxy

Many of them are images of a single unusual, beady, blue ring-shaped galaxy that happens to be located behind a giant cluster of galaxies. According to recent research, in total, at least 330 images of individual distant galaxies can be found in the picture. This stunning photograph of the galaxy cluster CL0024+1654 was taken by the NASA Space Telescope. Hubble in November 2004.

Trifid Nebula

The beautiful, multi-colored Trifid Nebula allows you to explore cosmic contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. The size of the nebula is about 40 light years.

Centaurus A

A fantastic array of young blue star clusters, giant glowing gas clouds and dark dust lanes surround the central region of the active galaxy Centaurus A. Centaurus A is close to Earth, 10 million light years away.

Butterfly Nebula

Bright clusters and nebulae in Earth's night sky are often named after flowers or insects, and NGC 6302 is no exception. The central star of this planetary nebula is exceptionally hot: its surface temperature is about 250 thousand degrees Celsius.

An image of a supernova that exploded in 1994 on the outskirts of a spiral galaxy.

This remarkable cosmic portrait shows two colliding galaxies with merging spiral arms. Above and to the left of the large spiral galaxy pair NGC 6050 can be seen a third galaxy that is also likely involved in the interaction. All of these galaxies are located about 450 million light-years away in the Hercules cluster of galaxies. At this distance, the image covers an area of ​​more than 150 thousand light years. And although this appearance seems quite unusual, scientists now know that collisions and subsequent mergers of galaxies are not uncommon.

Spiral galaxy NGC 3521 lies just 35 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Leo. The galaxy, which extends over 50,000 light-years, has features such as jagged, irregular spiral arms festooned with dust, pinkish star-forming regions and clusters of young bluish stars.

Although this unusual emission was first noticed in the early twentieth century, its origin is still the subject of debate. The image shown above, taken in 1998 by the Hubble Space Telescope, clearly shows details of the jet's structure. The most popular hypothesis suggests that the source of the ejection was heated gas orbiting a massive black hole at the center of the galaxy.

Galaxy Sombrero

Galaxy M104's appearance resembles a hat, which is why it is called the Sombrero Galaxy. The image shows distinct dark lanes of dust and a bright halo of stars and globular clusters. The reasons why the Sombrero Galaxy looks like a hat are the unusually large central stellar bulge and the dense dark lanes of dust located in the galaxy's disk, which we see almost edge-on.

M17: close-up view

Formed by stellar winds and radiation, these fantastic wave-like formations are found in the M17 (Omega Nebula) nebula and are part of a star-forming region. The Omega Nebula is located in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius and is 5,500 light-years away. The patchy clumps of dense, cold gas and dust are illuminated by radiation from the stars in the image at top right and could become sites of star formation in the future.

What does the IRAS 05437+2502 nebula illuminate? There is no exact answer yet. Particularly puzzling is the bright, inverted V-shaped arc that outlines the top edge of the mountain-like clouds of interstellar dust near the center of the image. Overall, this ghost-like nebula includes a small star-forming region filled with dark dust. It was first spotted in infrared images taken by the IRAS satellite in 1983. Shown here is a remarkable, recently released image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Although it shows many new details, the cause of the bright, clear arc could not be determined.