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 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
The silhouette of a man stepping out on a space shuttle with Earth visible behind him

Space photo of the week: Space X's Polaris Dawn astronauts 'touch the void' on 1st-ever private spacewalk

By Tia Ghose published

SpaceX Polaris Dawn astronaut Jared Isaacman briefly "touched the void" as he embarked on the first-ever private spacewalk Thursday (Sept. 12).

Space Exploration
A black background with a large blue glowing orb in the middle and a smaller red orb to the bottom left

Space photo of the week: The 1st image of an alien planet

By Jamie Carter published

The Very Large Telescope in northern Chile imaged a "super-Jupiter" exoplanet called 2M1207b, precisely 20 years ago this week. This was the first direct visual confirmation of a world beyond our solar system.

Exoplanets
A photo of a spiral galaxy with blue and red streaks

Space photo of the week: Milky Way's galactic twin captured by Dark Energy Camera

By Jamie Carter published

NGC 6744 is a spiral galaxy bigger than, but otherwise very similar to, our own. NASA has dubbed the large spiral galaxy the Milky Way’s ‘big brother’.

Astronomy
A blue and red sphere on a black background

Space photo of the week: 1st-ever close-up of Neptune is Voyager 2's final portrait of a planet

By Jamie Carter published

Voyager 2, NASA's longest-running mission, explored Neptune during a historic encounter on Aug. 25, 1989, sending back humanity's first close-ups of the planet.

Neptune
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