M82

M82: A galaxy 12 million light years from Earth that is undergoing a burst of star formation.

Images from three of NASA's Great Observatories were combined to create this spectacular, multiwavelength view of the starburst galaxy M82. Optical light from stars (yellow-green/Hubble Space Telescope) shows the disk of a modest-sized, apparently normal galaxy. Another Hubble observation designed to image 10,000 degree Celsius hydrogen gas (orange) reveals a startlingly different picture of matter blasting out of the galaxy. The Spitzer Space Telescope infrared image (red) shows that cool gas and dust are also being ejected. Chandra's X-ray image (blue) reveals gas heated to millions of degrees by the violent outflow, which can be traced back to vigorous star formation in the central regions of the galaxy. The burst of star formation is thought to have been initiated by a close encounter with a large nearby galaxy, M81, about 100 million years ago.

(Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of AZ/C. Engelbracht)

Cassiopeia A
Surely the stars are images of love.

Catseye Nebula
No star is ever lost we once have seen, We always may be what we might have been.

Galactic Center
The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks.

Centaurus A
Our destiny is in the stars, so let's go and search for it.

NGC 602
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.

M101
the axis of the universe—love