Spiral Galaxy M77 as seen by Subaru

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M77 aka NGC 1068 is a spiral galaxy located relatively close to our Milky Way. At its center lies a supermassive black hole about 10 million times the mass of the Sun. As enormous amounts of energy are released around the black hole, M77 is known as an active galaxy.

Because of its proximity, M77 has been extensively studied across the electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays to radio waves, using various telescopes, including the Subaru Telescope and ALMA. Recently, observations with the Subaru Telescope's Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) have revealed evidence that M77 experienced a previously hidden minor merger with a low-mass satellite galaxy billions of years ago.

Image Credit: NAOJ/SDSS/David Hogg/Michael Blanton

Image Processing: Ichi Tanaka

Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure

The Milky Way Galaxy's center as seen by Webb

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A dense star field fills the entire image, with countless stars scattered across a backdrop of glowing clouds in shades of red, orange, pink, white, and blue. At the center, a brilliant concentration of stars creates a bright, almost white core surrounded by intricate filaments and wisps of illuminated gas and dust that radiate outward. Dark, irregular patches of opaque dust interrupt the glowing clouds, particularly toward the left side of the image, where they appear as silhouetted shapes against the brighter background. The surrounding stellar population varies in brightness and colour, with cool blue stars and warmer orange and red stars distributed throughout the scene.

This image features data from Webb's NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid Infrared Instrument) to capture the most detailed mid-infrared view yet of the field that hosts the highly evolved star IRS 3, which is located just 0.55 light-years from Sagittarius A, the Milky Way galaxy's central supermassive black hole.

An international team of astronomers have discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to this supermassive black hole. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around Sagittarius A.

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA and CSA, F. Peißker, J. Lu, F. Yusef-Zadeh, N. B. Sabha, C. Chan

Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure

Planetary Nebula NGC 1514 by Gemini North

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NGC 1514, nicknamed the Crystal Ball Nebula, is showcased in this enchanting image captured by Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini North telescope, located on Maunakea in Hawai'i. Gemini North is one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by NSF NOIRLab.

German–British astronomer William Herschel discovered the Crystal Ball Nebula in 1790. It's located in the constellation Taurus, near the border of Perseus. While, culturally, crystal balls are known for divining the future, the Crystal Ball Nebula provides us with a snapshot of the final stages of a star's life from long ago. It sits around 1500 light-years from Earth. This means the light captured in this image left its source around 1500 years ago, traveling across the Universe before finally reaching Gemini North.

The Crystal Ball Nebula is categorized as a planetary nebula, a nomenclature first presented by the nebula's discoverer, William Herschel. He coined the term in the 1700s after spotting the spherical shape of these objects, which reminded him of planets. In reality, planets and planetary nebulae are unrelated.

Planetary nebulae form when a low- or intermediate-mass star ejects its outer layers near the end of its life, forming a somewhat spherical cloud of gas. They typically have smoother, spherical shapes, making the Crystal Ball Nebula unique for its bumpy shells of gas. As the central star casts away this gas, its inner core is exposed. Radiation from the core energizes the gas, giving it a scorching temperature and chromatic glow. The Crystal Ball Nebula, for example, has an estimated temperature of 15,000 K.

Herschel found this object fascinating, amazed by its faintly illuminated shell. Prior to its discovery, he believed that nebulae were collections of stars that were too far away to individually resolve. The distinct bright point at the heart of the gaseous shell shattered this theory. He wrote in 1791, "Our judgment I may venture to say, will be, that the nebulosity about the star is not of a starry nature." He believed the illumination of the Crystal Ball Nebula came from a single star, not a far-off grouping.

While it may appear in this image as if there is a single shining light source at the heart of the Crystal Ball Nebula, as Herschel saw, it actually contains two stars. These two stars orbit each other with a period of around nine years – the longest known for any binary pair within a planetary nebula. Scientists believe that one of these stars, which was once several times more massive than our Sun, released its outer layers while in the throes of death. As the progenitor star and its binary companion orbit each other, they mold the expanding shell of gas with their strong, asymmetrical winds, forming the lumpy layers we see today.

Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Image Processing: J. Miller and M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin and M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)

Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure

The Pillars of Creation as seen by Webb

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By combining images of the iconic Pillars of Creation from two cameras aboard the James Webb Space Telescope, the Universe has been framed in its infrared glory. Webb's near-infrared image was fused with its mid-infrared image, setting this star-forming region ablaze with new details.

Myriad stars are spread throughout the scene. The stars primarily show up in near-infrared light, marking a contribution of Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). Near-infrared light also reveals thousands of newly formed stars – look for bright orange spheres that lie just outside the dusty pillars.

In mid-infrared light, the dust is on full display. The contributions from Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) are most apparent in the layers of diffuse, orange dust that drape the top of the image, relaxing into a V. The densest regions of dust are cast in deep indigo hues, obscuring our view of the activities inside the dense pillars.

Dust also makes up the spire-like pillars that extend from the bottom left to the top right. This is one of the reasons why the region is overflowing with stars – dust is a major ingredient of star formation. When knots of gas and dust with sufficient mass form in the pillars, they begin to collapse under their own gravitational attraction, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars. Newly formed stars are especially apparent at the edges of the top two pillars – they are practically bursting onto the scene.

At the top edge of the second pillar, undulating detail in red hints at even more embedded stars. These are even younger, and are quite active as they form. The lava-like regions capture their periodic ejections. As stars form, they periodically send out supersonic jets that can interact within clouds of material, like these thick pillars of gas and dust. These young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old, and will continue to form for millions of years.

Almost everything you see in this scene is local. The distant universe is largely blocked from our view both by the interstellar medium, which is made up of sparse gas and dust located between the stars, and a thick dust lane in our Milky Way galaxy. As a result, the stars take center stage in Webb’s view of the Pillars of Creation.

The Pillars of Creation is a small region within the vast Eagle Nebula, which lies 6,500 light-years away.

MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.

Webb's NIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI), A. M. Koekemoer (STScI)

Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure

Deep Field in the Constellation Lupus by Rubin

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This 1.7-gigapixel image of a field of stars in the constellation Lupus showcases the unprecedented view of the Universe that NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory gives us. Equipped with the LSST Camera – the largest digital camera in the world – Rubin combines a wide view of the sky with the ability to detect extremely faint objects. With this capability, Rubin can reveal details of the cosmos across an enormous range of scales, from distant galaxies, to individual stars, to the wispy clouds of dust spread throughout our galaxy.

The faint, glowing clouds spread across this image are galactic cirrus: clouds of interstellar gas and dust that can be seen in the foreground of the Milky Way. Rubin's ability to capture scenes like this in unmatched detail will open new windows into the structure of our galaxy and the Universe beyond it.

Imaqge Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA

Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure

Galaxy Centaurus A as seen by Webb

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The James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals the nearby galaxy Centaurus A, exposing the dusty structures and hidden activity that shape this unusual system. Webb's infrared vision pierces thick lanes of dust that obscure much of the galaxy in visible light, unveiling intricate filaments, loops, and glowing clouds of warm dust stretching across its center. At the heart of the galaxy, an actively feeding supermassive black hole shines brightly, surrounded by complex structures sculpted by a past galactic collision and ongoing activity.

This image of the galaxy Centaurus A stretches across a black background filled with thousands of tiny purple, pink, and white points of light. The galaxy is brightest at its center, where a brilliant white and pale pink glow radiates outward. Eight diffraction spikes extend from the central glow. Delicate loops and wispy ribbons of pink and lavender arc above and below the center of the image in the shape of an "S". A band of gray and white dust in the shape of a parallelogram cuts across the middle of the galaxy. Mottled patches and bright knots are scattered throughout the dusty band. The galaxy's outer edges fade into soft, cloud-like plumes with feathery textures that stretch toward the left and right sides of the image. Against the surrounding darkness, a few bright foreground stars shine with Webb's distinctive diffraction spikes, while countless fainter stars create a speckled backdrop.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI), J. Depasquale (STScI), M. Garcia Marin (ESA Office at STScI)

Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure

Inside the Simonyi Survey Telescope Dome

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NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science (DOE/SC), is captured here beginning its first night of on-sky observations with the LSST Camera as night settles across the sky. This long-exposure image gives us a great sense of the observatory’s scale, with three people on the gangway in the lower-right corner. Petr Horálek, NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador, captured this image during the on-sky commissioning of the camera on 15 April 2025.

The teal telescope mount for Rubin's Simonyi Survey Telescope was built in Spain and shipped in pieces to its current residence on Cerro Pachón in the foothills of the Chilean Andes. There, engineers and technicians reassembled the mount on the telescope pier inside the observatory over four years, partially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The mount may look somewhat similar to other telescopes, but it incorporates a unique three-mirror design that makes the entire telescope much shorter and gives it a lower center of gravity. This unique design allows the mount to precisely hold and quickly move the mirrors and LSST Camera, the largest digital camera ever built. The weight of the mount, mirror, and camera totals 350 metric tons (386 US tons).

Photo Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/P. Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava)