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

The discovery is the first direct observational confirmation of a theory for how young stars feed on, and then explosively expel, surrounding material.

In this James Webb telescope image, the gigantic molecular cloud near our galaxy's center appears as a canvas of pink and purple clouds set against a shadowy backdrop.

This mash-up of data from the James Webb Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals two galaxies mid-collision, with their spiral arms overlapping and bending toward their neighbors' cores.

Astronomers used major telescopes across the world to probe a cosmic explosion 8 billion light-years from the solar system.

Astronomers using data from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) have revealed that the initial "breakout" phase of a supernova is elongated, not perfectly spherical.

NASA's SOFIA observatory captured a rare image of a glowing gas ring in Cygnus X — a vast star-forming region 4,500 light-years away.

First-light images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have revealed a 163,000-light-year stream of stars emanating from the M61 galaxy, suggesting a violent past.

Created using data from two extensive surveys, this spectacular radio image of the galactic plane of the Milky Way provides valuable insights into the birth and death of stars.

The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed the blazing heart of an iconic nearby galaxy, where rapid star formation and galactic winds light up the cosmos in infrared light.