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Astronomy Gallery



the Eagle Nebula from HST

EGGs in Space!

Stars are born in vast cloud complexes of gas and dust. As new stars start to shine they eat away at the cosmic cradles that gave them birth, forming intricate shapes like these pillars of creation.

A Stellar Nursery



The Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula is the most famous of all the star birth regions astronomers have studied. It appears here as the Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma sees it through various filters that bring out the gas and dust distribution in the nebula.

Another Stellar Nursery


HST image of Cat's Eye Nebula

HST and the Cat's Eye Nebula

An unbeatable combination gives us a look at how the Sun will die some five and a half billion years from now. There's not much chance the Sun is anywhere ready to go planetary nebula on us, so no need to sell those stocks off just yet!

Do all stars blow up?



An Image of Eta Carinae

What's Eta Carinae doing?

That's a question astronomers want to answer. The largest stars explode as supernovae, while stars like our Sun have more gentle deaths. Then there is Eta Carinae — a cataclysmic variable that is keeping everybody guessing! Just when will it turn supernova?

Is it dying too?