Europe at night, digital composite of archived satellite images

IC 405 and IC 410, two large, faint emission nebulae in Orion. IC 410 contains the open star cluster NGC 1893

Planetary nebula IC 4406, also known as the 'Retina Nebula', in the direction of Lupus

The nebulosity complex in the Orion Belt, from west to east the stars: Mintaka, Alnilam, and Alnitak

The star cluster Pismis 24 in the core of the emission nebula NGC 6357 in Scorpius

Filaments of the supernova remnant Simeis 147, it covers nearly 3º on the sky at 3000 light-years, towards Taurus

The Crab Nebula (Messier 1) in Taurus, image from the Hubble

Earthrise, Apollo 8's famous picture of the distant blue Earth above the Moon's limb, December 1968

Horsehead nebula, also known as Barnard 33, in the constellation of Orion

The Hubble Space Telescope

Jupiter's New Red Spot, HST image on April 8, 2006

The Orion nebula (Messier 42) 1,500 light-years away, the nearest star-forming region to Earth

The Ring nebula (Messier 57), located at some 2, 000 ly in Lyra

Comet McNaught 2007, along with the insider's view of our own galaxy and the LMC and SMC, image taken in Patagonia, Argentina

Colorful Moon mosaic, digital composite image showing real color differences along the lunar surface

NGC 1333 is a reflection nebula, about 1,000 light-years distant in the constellation Perseus

The Rosette Nebula and the open cluster NGC 2244, located in the constellation Monoceros

NGC 3603, the supergiant star Sher 25 is surrounded by a glowing ring and flanked by ejected blobs of gas

NGC 602, containing the star-forming region N90, located near the Small Magellanic Cloud

Spitzer image of 'Valentine's Day nebula' (NGC 7129), located at 3300 ly in Cepheus

NGC 7635: the Bubble nebula, about 11,000 light-years distant, in the boundary between Cepheus and Cassiopeia

The Pleiades (Messier 45), an open clusters with approximately 3000 stars, about 400 light years away from the Earth

The Ring Nebula (M57) at 2000 ly in the constellation of Lyra, the background galaxy at the upper left is IC 1296

The Sagittarius Triplet: Lagoon Nebula (M8), Trifid (M20) and NGC 6559

An artist's impression of our solar system, with minor planets included

Tarantula nebula, 170,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud

An expanding halo around the star V838 Mon, at 20,000 ly in the direction of Monoceros

The Vela supernova remnant, a roughly 100 light-years spherical expanding shock wave is visible