Orion Nebula

This fresh look at the Orion Nebula (Messier 42) is courtesy of the ESO's La Silla Observatory and data unearthed during ESO's Hidden Treasures competition.

Credit: ESO and Igor Chekalin

Compare it with Hubble's highest resolution view from 2006 below.

Credit: NASA,ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team

The Dust Skeleton of M51

With most of the starlight removed from this Hubble image, the sharpest view ever of the narrow spiraling dust lanes of the Whirlpool Galaxy is revealed.

Near-infrared image of the Whirlpool Galaxy

Hubble image of the Whirlpool Galaxy in visible light.

Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Regan and B. Whitmore (STScI), R. Chandar (University of Toledo), S. Beckwith (STScI), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Messier 81 and Messier 82

WISE image of the spiral galaxies Messier 82 (seen edge-on at the top of the image) and Messier 81 (see face-on at the bottom of the image). M81 and M82 swept by one another a few hundred million years ago--triggering a burst of star formation in both--and will likely pass near each other again multiple times until they eventually merge into a single galaxy.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

ESO's Hidden Treasures

The ESO launched a rather technical competition in 2010 inviting amateur astronomers to sift through their vast archives of astronomical data for diamonds in the rough. First prize--and what a prize it was, a trip to ESO's Very Large Telescope at Paranal, Chile--went to astronomy enthusiast Igor Chekalin. Below is a sampling of the 20 highest ranked images out of the nearly 100 entries submitted, including Chekalin's winning submission of the reflection nebula Messier 78.

M78

Abell 1060

Orion Nebula

NGC3169 & NGC3166 and SN 2003cg

NGC 3521

Source/Credit: ESO

Hanny's Voorwerp (Hanny's object in Dutch)

Hanny's Voorwerp is named after its discoverer Hanny van Arkel who, in 2007, was participating in the Galaxy Zoo project when she noticed the Voorwerp--a supergiant cloud of glowing green gas--but couldn't classify it, and so brought it to the attention of the Galaxy Zoo forum. There it caught the attention of other Galaxy Zoo volunteers, the Galaxy Zoo team and eventually professional astronomers.

Credit: NASA, ESA, William Keel (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa), and the Galaxy Zoo team



This diagram explains the formation of the strange green object known as Hanny’s Voorwerp. Astronomers believe that it is part of the long streamer of gas that extends from galaxy IC 2497, lit up brightly by the searchlight beam of a recently extinguished quasar. Credit: NASA, ESA

Henize 2-10

This composite image of the dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10 combines X-ray data (purple) from Chandra, radio data (yellow) from the NRAO's Very Large Array and optical data (red, green and blue) from Hubble.


Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/Virginia/A.Reines et al); Radio (NRAO/AUI/NSF); Optical (NASA/STScI)



The Andromeda Galaxy in Infrared and X-ray

This mosaic of the Andromeda spiral galaxy reveals explosive stars in its interior (X-rays in blues) and cooler, dusty stars forming in its many rings (infrared light seen in orange hues). The image is a combination of observations from the Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories.

Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/J.Fritz

The Open Star Cluster NGC 6611

Hubble image of the open star cluster NGC 6611, part of the Eagle Nebula, and together known as Messier 16.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

NGC 6171

Sharp new image of Messier 107 (also known as NGC 6171) by the ESO's Wide Field Imager.

Credit: ESO/ESO Imaging Survey

The Best Astronomy Pictures of 2010

For best viewing, click here to launch in presentation mode, and give the presentation a minute or two to fully load (it's a large file) before you begin paging through the slides.

Mapping Dark Matter

This map of dark matter (tinted blue) in the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689 was created by inferring the invisible matter's location and mass based on the degree of gravitational lensing Abell 1689 produces.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe (NASA JPL/Caltech and STScI)

NGC 7252

New image of the colliding galaxies NGC 7252 taken by ESO's Wide Field Imager in Chile.
Credit: ESO

NGC 4452

Hubble edge-on image of the galaxy NGC 4452.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

NGC 5427, Messier 100 (NGC 4321), NGC 1300, NGC 4030, NGC 2997 and NGC 1232

Paranal Observatory's Very Large Telescope's infrared shots of six spiral galaxies: NGC 5427, Messier 100 (NGC 4321), NGC 1300, NGC 4030, NGC 2997 and NGC 1232.













Credit: ESO/P. Grosbøl

NGC 1806

The globular cluster NGC 1806 within the Large Magellanic Cloud as observed by Hubble.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

NGC 3982

Hubble's view of the spiral galaxy NGC 3982.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253)

An infrared mosaic of the Sculptor galaxy (NGC 253)--the nearest starburst galaxy to the Milky Way--from WISE.

Red shows active side of infant stars heating up their dusty cocoons.
Green shows emerging young stars.
Blue shows stars of all ages.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team

Monoceros R2

VISTA infrared image of the star-forming region Monoceros R2 within the constellation of Monoceros (the Unicorn).
Credit: ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

Herbig-Haro 502

Hubble's view deep inside the Orion Nebula reveals the colorful but turbulent early stages of a young star's life as it ejects material at shock wave speeds into the surrounding gas and dust of the nebula, creating a Herbig-Haro object denoted by curved bow shock features to the lower-left and upper-right and a narrow jet extending from the star itself.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Saturn's Southern Lights

This Cassini false-color composite image is of aurora emissions (in green) eminating from the Saturn's southern polar region.

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/University of Leicester