Space photo of the week — Extraordinary images of our sublime universe

A mosaic of JWST and Hubble data of the "Pillars of Creation" visualization.
(Image credit: Greg Bacon (STScI), Ralf Crawford (STScI), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Leah Hustak (STScI), Christian Nieves (STScI), Joseph Olmsted (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Frank Summers (STScI), NASA's Universe of Learning)

Space photos remind us that, around every corner of our vast universe, something spectacular awaits. From the newest James Webb Space Telescope images to historic photos of groundbreaking space missions, join us every Sunday as we explore the wonders of the universe, and humanity's place in it.

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Latest about space photo of the week

A long elliptical galaxy with a blue color

Space photo of the week: James Webb telescope spots a secret star factory in the Sombrero Galaxy

By Jamie Carter published

This week, the James Webb Space Telescope zooms in on the iconic Sombrero Galaxy, revealing the first-ever mid-infrared observations of the hat-shaped wonder.

Astronomy
An image of NGC 4694, a smooth, glowing galaxy shaped like an ellipse with barely any star formation

Space photo of the week: Hubble uncovers the true identity of an odd galaxy — and it's not spiral or elliptical

By Shreejaya Karantha published

The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of NGC 4694, a galaxy that possesses unusual properties that complicate its classification.

Astronomy
Two intertwined spiral galaxies with a red hue and eye-like shape

Space photo of the week: Stare into the 'bloodshot eyes' of a haunting galaxy pair

By Shreejaya Karantha published

The James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope recently released a chilling view of two spiral galaxies, IC 2163 and NGC 2207, merging into one.

Astronomy
A photo of a spiral galaxy

Space photo of the week: Hubble spies a 'cannonball galaxy' blasting through space

By Jamie Carter published

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spiral galaxy under the "ram pressure" inside a massive cluster of galaxies.

Astronomy
A nebula with rainbow swirls that make a plus-sign shape

Space photo of the week: Hubble spots a stellar 'H-bomb' exploding in Aquarius at 1 million mph

By Jamie Carter published

A pulsating red star and its spectacular nebula have been captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronomy
A dense cluster of bright stars, each with six large and two small diffraction spikes, due to the telescope’s optics. They have a variety of sizes depending on their brightness and distance from us in the cluster, and different colors reflecting different types of star. Patches of billowing red gas can be seen in and around the cluster, lit up by the stars. Small stars in the cluster blend into a background of distant stars and galaxies on black.

Space photo of the week: Webb telescope spies 'super star cluster'

By Jamie Carter published

Once blocked from view, the most massive young star cluster in the Milky Way has finally been revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Space
A circular nebula with rings of rainbow colors, with blue on the inside, yellow in the middle, and red on the outside

Space photo of the week: See the gorgeous Rosette Nebula — before it destroys itself

By Jamie Carter published

The Dark Energy Camera imaged the Rosette Nebula, capturing a kaleidoscope of color created by the star cluster born within it.

Astronomy
A solar eclipse where the middle of the sun is blocked but the outer ring is visible

Space photo of the week: Easter Island's last 'ring of fire' eclipse for 320 years

By Jamie Carter published

Oct. 2's annular solar eclipse saw a small-looking new moon cross the face of the sun to create a perfect circle for about six minutes.

The Sun
This image from ESO’s VISTA telescope captures a celestial landscape of vast, glowing clouds of gas and tendrils of dust surrounding hot young stars.

Space photo of the week: Hot young suns glow blue, white and orange in the Lobster Nebula

By Jamie Carter published

The massive star-forming complex known as the Lobster Nebula is part of the biggest infrared map of the Milky Way galaxy ever created.

Space
James webb telescope image of a galaxy merger, with spirals in glowing red light

Space photo of the week: Entangled galaxies form cosmic smiley face in new James Webb telescope image

By Jamie Carter published

A new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows Arp 107, home to two merging galaxies, with two bright cores and a "bridge" of dust and gas forming a cosmic smiley face.

Astronomy
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