Prepare to be mesmerized… 😵💫
Feast your eyes on the magnificent galaxy M51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy! This hypnotic spiral galaxy was captured in visible light with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Living up to its nickname, the Whirlpool Galaxy has the traits of a typical spiral galaxy, like beautifully curving arms, pink star-forming regions, and brilliant blue strands of star clusters.
The Whirlpool Galaxy is located about 31 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici.
Discover more about the Whirlpool Galaxy here.
Right now, the Hubble Space Telescope is exploring #GalaxiesGalore! Find more galaxy content and spectacular new images by following along on Hubble’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
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One of the most active galaxies, NGC 1569
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The Eye of God —The Helix (1/2)
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Mammatus Clouds over Saskatchewan : When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles? Normally, cloud bottoms are flat. This is because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a specific temperature, which usually corresponds to a very specific height. As water droplets grow, an opaque cloud forms. Under some conditions, however, cloud pockets can develop that contain large droplets of water or ice that fall into clear air as they evaporate. Such pockets may occur in turbulent air near a thunderstorm. Resulting mammatus clouds can appear especially dramatic if sunlit from the side. The mammatus clouds pictured here, lasting only a few minutes, were photographed over Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, just after a storm in 2012. via NASA
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Saturn - nIR False Color - March 29 2004
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill
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A partial solar eclipse seen from space by europeanspaceagency
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The Space Heron, once more.
Several years ago, I painted a heron, in a similar state. I’ve come a long way since then and wanted to try redoing that piece to see just how far. It is an old favorite of mine and this was a blast to do, very fun to go wild with the colors and the symmetry.
The Space Bird series will continue.
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Starliner liftoff to the International Space Station (via NASA)
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A Beautiful Trifid : The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid does illustrate three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. But the red emission region roughly separated into three parts by obscuring dust lanes is what lends the Trifid its popular name. Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, below and left of the emission nebula's center, appear in famous Hubble Space Telescope close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across. Just too faint to be seen by the unaided eye, it almost covers the area of a full moon in planet Earth's sky. via NASA
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Saturn and its moons
Credit: Johannes Schedler
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Into the storm by europeanspaceagency
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