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LL Ori, young star: Named for the crescent-shaped wave made by a ship as it moves through water, a bow shock can be created in space when two streams of gas collide. LL Ori emits a vigorous solar wind, a stream of charged particles moving rapidly outward from the star. Our Sun has a less energetic version of this wind that is responsible for auroral displays on Earth. — More....
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M15, (Messier 15): 40,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Pegasus, it is one of nearly 150 known globular clusters that form a halo around our Milky Way galaxy. Each cluster is a spherical association of hundreds of thousands of ancient stars. This image, from the HST team, attempts to show the stars in M15 in their true colors. — More....
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Messier 15, blue stars (cont.): A HST image of the center of the globular cluster M15 reveals a new population of about 15 very hot stars isolated at the core. The most likely explanation for their existence is that they are the 'naked cores' of stars that have been stripped of their outer envelope of gas. This could only have happened if they were very crowded. — More....
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M17, Omega or Swan Nebula: Resembling the fury of a raging sea, this image shows a bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen gas and small amounts of other elements such as oxygen and sulfur. The photo by NASA's HST captures a small region within M17, a hotbed of star formation. M17 is located about 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. — More....
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M27 MM, Dumbbell: The nebula was formed when an evolved, red giant star ejected its outer envelope near the end of its lifetime. The gas becomes visible once the hot core of the star, visible near the center, is exposed and the high-energy, ultraviolet light from the core ionizes the cloud. It is about 850 light-years from Earth and about 1.5 light-years in diameter. — More....
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M2-9 bipolar planetary: M2-9 is a striking example of a "butterfly" or a bipolar planetary nebula. Another more revealing name might be the "Twin Jet Nebula." Indeed, because of the nebula's shape and the measured velocity of the gas, in excess of 200 miles per second, astronomers believe that the description as a super-super-sonic jet exhaust is quite apt. — More....
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M32 (Messier 32): This HST image clearly shows the core of the elliptical galaxy. The steady increase in brightness towards its center is apparent, showing that the stars are strongly concentrated towards its nucleus, as if drawn there by a massive gravitational field. In fact, models indicate a central 3 million solar mass black hole is present. — More....
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M51 "Whirlpool" galaxy" & supernova 1994I: The galaxy is located 20 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. Easily viewed by smaller telescopes, this celestial beauty is studied extensively in a range of wavelengths by large ground- and space-based observatories. In 1994, astronomers detected a supernova approximately 2,000 light-years from the nucleus. — More....
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M57 Ring Nebula: HST looked down a barrel of gas that was cast off by a dying star thousands of years ago, and captured the sharpest view yet of the most famous of all planetary nebulae: M57. The image reveals elongated dark clumps of material embedded in the gas at the edge of the nebula and the dying central star floating in a blue haze of hot gas. — More....
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M80 (NGC 6093) globular star cluster: This stellar swarm is M80 (NGC 6093), one of the densest of the 147 known globular star clusters in the Milky Way galaxy. Located about 28,000 light-years from Earth, M80 contains hundreds of thousands of stars, all held together by their mutual gravitational attraction and all about the same cosmic age. — More....
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M82 starburst galaxy: This beautiful image from HST shows the heart of the prototypical starburst galaxy M82. The ongoing violent star formation due to an ancient encounter with its large galactic neighbor, M81, gives this galaxy its disturbed appearance. The huge lanes of dust that crisscross M82's disk are a telltale sign of the flurry of star formation. — More....
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M87 giant elliptical galaxy: The spot of light directly at the center of M87 is not due to starlight, but appears to be a visible counterpart of the strong nuclear radio source. The nuclear emission appears to be produced by hot plasma interacting with magnetic fields and is perhaps generated by a super hot disk of infalling gas expected to surround the black hole. — More....
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M87 Jet, A Cosmic Searchlight: Streaming out from the center is one of nature's most amazing phenomena, a black-hole-powered jet of electrons and other sub-atomic particles traveling at nearly the speed of light. The yellow glow comes from the combined light of billions of unseen stars and the yellow, point-like globular clusters that make up this galaxy. — More....
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Markarian 315, Seyfert galaxy: An HST image of the core of the Seyfert galaxy Markarian 315 reveals two nuclei located approximately 6,000 light-years apart. The brighter member of the pair is the energetic core of the galaxy which probably contains a black hole. The fainter companion is considered to be the core of a galaxy in the process of merging with Markarian 315. — More....
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