In Pictures: Exploring Mars with Curiosity
In Pictures: Meteors
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Dancing with the Stars
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Black Holes
In Pictures: Space Photos of the Day: Asteroids
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Visions of the future
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Massive Storms
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Gas giants
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Heavenly Rings
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Female Astronauts
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: The Moon
In Pictures: Space photos of the day: A Blue Planet
This image of the open star cluster NGC 7380, also known as the Wizard Nebula, is a mosaic of images from the WISE mission spanning an area on the sky of about 5 times the size of the full moon. NGC 7380 is located in the constellation Cepheus about 7,000 light-years from Earth within the Milky Way Galaxy.
This image released Oct. 28, shows what NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, captured in a colorful image of the reflection nebula IRAS 12116-6001. This cloud of interstellar dust cannot be seen directly in visible light, but WISE's detectors observed the nebula at infrared wavelengths. The bright blue star on the right side of the image is the variable star Epsilon Crucis.
This NASA image obtained July 28 shows new stars that are forming inside this giant cloud of dust and gas as seen in infrared light by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. Sprawling across the constellation Vela is a complex of dark, dense clouds of dust and gas, difficult to detect with telescopes that see only visible light. The complex is called the Vela Molecular Cloud Ridge.
This mosaic taken by NASA's WISE features three nebulae that are part of the giant Orion Molecular Cloud, the Flame nebula, the Horsehead nebula and NGC 2023. Despite its name, there is no fire roaring in the Flame nebula. What makes this nebula shine is the bright blue star seen to the right of the central cloud. This star, Alnitak, is the easternmost star in Orion's belt.
In the Constellation Cassiopeia Tycho's Supernova, the red circle visible in the upper left part of the image, SN 1572, is a remnant of a star explosion. The supernova is named after the astronomer Tycho Brahe, although he was not the only person to observe and record the supernova. When the supernova first appeared in November 1572, it was as bright as Venus and could be seen in the daytime. Over the next two years, the supernova dimmed until it could no longer be seen with the naked eye.
Image of the Andromeda galaxy, M31, captured by NASA's WISE. The mosaic covers an area equivalent to more than 100 full moons.
This image, obtained by NASA's WISE, highlights the Small Magellanic Cloud. Also known as NGC 292, the Small Magellanic Cloud is a small galaxy about 200,000 light-years away. The Small Magellanic Cloud is named after the Portuguese explorer Fernando de Magellan who observed it on his voyage around the world in 1519. Since it is visible to the naked eye in dark-sky conditions, it is likely that people in the southern hemisphere observed the galaxy long before Magellan recorded it. Located in the constellation Tucana, the Small Magellanic Cloud looks like a wispy cloud that circles the south celestial pole.
The red-colored object in this new infrared image, obtained by WISE, is a sphere of stellar innards, blown out from a humongous star. The star (white dot in center of red ring) is one of the most massive stellar residents of our Milky Way galaxy. Objects like this are called Wolf-Rayet stars, after the astronomers who found the first few, and they make our sun look puny by comparison.
This infrared snapshot of a region in the constellation Carina near the Milky Way was taken shortly after WISE ejected its cover. The 'first-light' picture shows thousands of stars and covers an area three times the size of the moon. WISE will take more than a million similar pictures covering the whole sky.
The Seagull nebula, in this infrared mosaic from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, draws its common name from its resemblance to a gull in flight. But it depends on your point of view. When the image is rotated 180 degrees, it bears a passing resemblance to a galloping lizard, or a dragon or a dinosaur. The image spans an area about seven times as wide as the full moon, and three times as high, straddling the border between the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major. NASA/Zuma/Newscom/File
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Yuichiro Miura became the oldest man to summit Mt. Everest. It was his third time. He reached the summit when he was 70 and 75, too. An 81-year-old Nepalese man plans to climb the summit next week.
An 80-year-old Japanese man became the oldest conqueror of Mount Everest on Thursday, a feat he called "the world's best feeling" even with an 81-year-old Nepalese climber not far behind him.
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