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Supernova 1987A, wide view: Glittering stars and wisps of gas create a breathtaking backdrop for the self-destruction of a massive star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby galaxy. Astronomers in the Southern hemisphere witnessed the brilliant explosion of this star on Feb. 23, 1987.
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Supernova 1987A, close view: Shown in this NASA HST image, the supernova remnant, surrounded by inner and outer rings of material, is set in a forest of ethereal, diffuse clouds of gas. This three-color image is composed of several pictures of the supernova and its neighboring region taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 between 1994 and 2003.
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Supernova 1987A, intermediate view: The many bright blue stars near the supernova are massive stars, each more than six times heftier than our Sun. They are members of the same generation of stars as the star that went supernova about 12 million years ago. The presence of bright gas clouds is another sign of the youth of this region, which still appears to be a fertile breeding ground for new stars. In a few years the supernova's fast moving material will sweep the inner ring with full force, heating and exciting its gas, and will produce a new series of cosmic fireworks that will offer a striking view for more than a decade.
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Cas A supernova remnant: Glowing gaseous streamers of red, white, and blue (and green and pink) illuminate the heavens like Fourth of July fireworks. The colorful streamers that float across the sky in this Hubble photo were created by one of the biggest firecrackers ever seen to go off in our galaxy, the titanic supernova explosion of a massive star. Light from the explosion reached Earth 320 years ago, nearly a century before the U.S. celebrated its birth. — More....
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Tadpole: ACS photographed a stunning view of a colliding galaxy dubbed the "Tadpole" (UGC10214). Set against a rich tapestry of 6,000 galaxies, the Tadpole, with its long tail of stars, looks like a runaway pinwheel firework.
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NGC 6514, Messier 20, Trifid Nebula M20: Three huge intersecting dark lanes of interstellar dust make the Trifid Nebula one of the most recognizable and striking star birth regions in the night sky. The dust cradles the bright stars at the heart of the Trifid Nebula. This nebula lies within our own Milky Way Galaxy about 9,000 light-years from Earth. — More....
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NGC 6514, Messier 20, Trifid Nebula M20 (cont.): This new image from the Hubble Space Telescope offers a close-up view of the center of the Trifid Nebula, near the intersection of the dust bands, where a group of recently formed, massive, bright stars is easily visible. — More....
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V838 Monocerotis: The illumination of interstellar dust comes from the red supergiant star at the middle of the image, which gave off a flashbulb-like pulse of light two years ago. V838 Mon is located about 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Monoceros, placing the star at the outer edge of our Milky Way galaxy. — More....
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WR 124 in nebula M1-67: Resembling an aerial fireworks explosion, this dramatic HST picture of the energetic star WR124 reveals it is surrounded by hot clumps of gas being ejected into space at speeds of over 100,000 miles per hour. Also remarkable are vast arcs of glowing gas around the star, which are resolved into filamentary, chaotic substructures. — More....
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