Here are some beautiful images of outer space. I have tried to keep the images as large as possible so they can be used for desktop wallpapers. Click the image for the larger view.
1. The Pillars of Creation
The pillars are columns of cool interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that double as incubators for new stars. The pillars have been carved out and are illuminated by ultraviolet light coming from hot, massive newborn stars that are unseen, above the top of the photo.
2. Mercury in Transit
What better way can we truly appreciate the size of our Sun than to see one of the planets in transit?
3. Supernova
This is a photograph taken by the Hubble Telescope.
4. The Eskimo Nebula
A wonderful explosion of colour (in Gemini) as an old star dies leaving a central tiny, hot, White Dwarf and several layers of exploding gas (NASA, Hubble)
5. The Catseye Nebula
A nebula (from Latin: “mist”; pl. nebulae or nebulæ, with ligature) is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas and plasma. It is the first stage of a star’s cycle.
6. A collection of galaxies
A stunning collection of galaxies – courtesy of the Hubble telescope
7. Exploding Star
Amazing photo of a string of pearls surrounding an exploding star
8. Detail of Saturn’s Rings and Shadow
The rings of Saturn are a series of planetary rings that orbit the planet Saturn. They consist largely of ice and dust particles.
9. Interacting Spiral Galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163
Spiral galaxies are named after the arms that extend—roughly logarithmically—from the bulge.
10. Iridescent Glory of Nearby Helix Nebula
The Helix Nebula (also known as NGC 7293) is a planetary nebula (PN) about 650 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. It is one of the closest planetary nebulae to Earth.
well done!.
Gr8flDdFn: Thanks
7 is a rare one. I’m a fan of the Sombrero galaxy and the Andromida multi layered shots. One thing i’d love to see is a high magnification photo of a Blue Giant or the xray imaging of an Event Horizon. A hunting I will go…..
Crimanon: if you find some – be sure to post links
DUDE, THEY FOUND A HOLE IN THE UNIVERSE
http://www.livescience.com/space/scienceastronomy/070823_huge_hole.html
Crimanon: wow – that is a very interesting article.
Andromeda: Infrared
Sombrero: Visible
Active Galactic Nuclei: The closest I can get to an event horizon without relying on an artists rendering
Still working on the Blue Giant
Great photos Crimanon – especially 1 and 2
Sorry about the link
Unconfirmed Blue Giant: For all I know it’s just the sun with a blue Filter on it. This is the best iv’e found
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/KellyLeak/ig213_01_02.jpg
I really need to learn some HTML.
Awesome, Jaime, just awesome.
Thanks for that crimanon! The Blue Giant is fantastic.
Morphy: Thanks
Getting some perspective???
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/26618/
i admit i’m lost everytime i see space images. i’m not as awestruck because i have no context.
but the ‘mercury in transit’ image: pure and beautiful. i’m awed.
dalandzadgad: that is my favorite too.
one word Quasar one of the most powerful balls of energy and gas in the cosmos that to even rival and surpass a black hole
mix2323: pics or it didn’t happen!
Not sure if this would count, but what about the Pale Blue Dot photo?
Right here: http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/4/41/350px-PaleBlueDot.jpg
If you don’t know about it, the little, tiny, hard to see dot in the yellow band of light is Earth.
Dan – that is a cool image indeed. Where was it taken?
from Voyager 1, which visited jupiter and saturn. after that, it was very, very far from earth (almost 4 billion miles), and Carl Sagan was there, since he was helping with the mission, and he said to turn its cameras back one more time to take some pictures . One of them was the one I posted, and the very small dot in the yellow band of light is earth.
Carl sagan’s book, Pale Blue Dot, gets its name from the photo. He wrote a very powerful “description” of the photo, of which a narration over scenes from many movies can be found here:
http://stage6.divx.com/user/palebluefilms/video/1190153/We-Are-Here:-The-Pale-Blue-Dot
Dan: ah – thanks for the extra information. It is really extraordinary.
Crimanon those links were awsome.That hole in the universe thing was crazy.
Totally agree
truely awe inspiring
Cool list.
Odd, I just got an email about the Eye of God. If anyone is Curious, it’s #10.
James: Just remember who brought it to you first. It’s everywhere now.
the exploding star is amazing… and i love the photos of the nebula’s
tjgrs: yeah – the images are very awe inspiring.
very nice and interesting-thanks
khosroshahi: you are welcome
I am glad you like them. Be sure to look at some of the photos mentioned in the comments too – they are quite outstanding.
Who wouldv’e thought that you’d grab to of the more controversial Images.
The preivously mention Eye of God(Helix Nebula) and the face of Jesus(Pillars), first column below the star.
Crimanon: They are probably controversial in part because they are so famous.
For our Eastern Hemisphere bound friends:
http://www.livescience.com/space/news/070828_lunar_eclipse.html
Don’t worry too much. I missed it too. Cloudy night, so bummed.
Crimanon: wow – great photo! I took some HD video of the recent lunar eclipse in London – it was amazing to see the moon so red.
Ok, so if a Lunar Eclipse is the Earth moving in between the Sun and the Moon. What then, is a New Moon? Iv’e been trying to answer this for months now and I can’t get a good answer.
Crimanon: a diagram:
Sun -> Earth -> Moon = Lunar Eclipse
Sun -> Moon -> Earth = New Moon (and sometimes Solar Eclipse)
In the New Moon, the moons full light side is facing the sun – therefore we see the dark portion. In the eclipse, the earth’s shadow obscures the moon. It is in the new Moon stage that we occasionally get a full solar eclipse (this depends on the Moon’s position and distance). Also, a lunar eclipse only occurs when there is a full moon.
Ok new moon is just the A** end of the moon. Thank you!
Microsoft has been beaten to it. Firefox makes it to space first.
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?imgid=2174&gid=180 rotate it 180* and you’ve got the first Interstellar Logo
Your Blue Giant is a SOHO picture of our own sun. Go to SOHO site and you can see in blue, yellow red green, etc. Check it out.
Hey, i never thought that the universe is so beautiful.
Deano: Thanks I knew something wasn’t right about that. If you have any Idea where to find a high res. pic. of a Blue Giant Please post it.
Great list!
Thanks Buzz
I was watching this show on tv that mentioned that our galaxy is most likely the result of a few galaxies that crashed into each other and combined, and that at some point in the far distant future we’ll collide with another galaxy and it will happen again.
Punjar: I believe that we are, at present, merging with another galaxy – the edges are passing through each other – maybe that is what they were referring to?
You’re missing one of the most famous shots: Earthrise over the moon, taken from Apollo 8 (I think it was 8)
love ur site, very educational, if ur into space, worth checking out neutron stars, and black holes
oooh i like the saturn one
Everytime I look at space photos, even if it’s just illustrated, I’m dazzled.
Eric: I am the same – as a kid I was very lucky to live in an area with very low evening light so I used to lie in the back yard and stare at the sky for hours.
Great images. #9 looks like come creature. Gremlin or something. Never seen the mercury pic. That is cool.
Some great shots, the links were great too!
This video gives some good perspective on image #6.
simply beautiful…
im fascinated with space. I awlays was and the hole in space is simply amazing such a strange alien force something beyond our elements. I also love the 1st picture you show on here its really aewsome i fell in love with it. I dont know but it reminds me of heaven…. The most fascinating thing in space to me is black holes and white holes. If those two were to collide scientists believe that a worm hole may be form but theres no logical information to back that up.
I find space mind boggling. Its to big for humans to explore and that frst pic was very unique. Never have i seen something like that before. But the most fascinating thing to me in space would have to be black holes and white holes because theyre amazing. If those two were to collide scientists believe that a worm hole may form but theres no logical information to back that up.
oh by the way jack the rippers jaide i just changed my name cus the computer wouldnt let me make a comment..
wtf id did let me create a comment okay somethings going wrong with the schools computer…Sorry about that guys
I stumbled across this list of pictures from another site if anyone is interested…
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/12/13/top-ten-astronomy-pictures-of-2007/
Keep up the great work Mr. Frater!!!