Stellar Bodies
Milky Way Galaxy
Milky Way Galaxy -- The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Galaxia (gala, galactos means "milk")) is a hazy band of white light across the night sky formed by billions of stars in the disc of our galaxy. ...
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri -- Alpha Centauri is the brightest star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus, and is the third brightest in the entire night sky (although too far south to be visible in most of the northern hemisphere). It is also the c...
Andromeda Galaxy
Andromeda Galaxy -- The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as M31, or the object 31 on the catalog of Messier, is the other giant spiral galaxy in the Local Group, together with our galaxy, the Milky Way. It is at a distance of approximately 2.36 million...
Boomerang Nebula
Boomerang Nebula -- The Boomerang nebula, also called the bowtie nebula since the Hubble space telescope revealed more detail, located 5,000 light-years from Earth,in the constellation Centaurus. The Boomerang Nebula is one of the Universe's peculia...
Brown Dwarf
Brown Dwarf -- Brown dwarfs are a special type of low-mass star (approximately 13-70 Jupiter masses) that do not have nuclear fusion occurring in their cores during their time on the main sequence. Early in their development most brown dwarf stars ...
Butterfly Cluster
Butterfly Cluster -- To some, the outline of the open cluster of stars M6 resembles a butterfly. M6, also known as NGC 6405, spans about 20 light-years and lies about 2,000 light years distant. M6 can best be seen in a dark sky with binoculars towa...
Cancer Constellation
Cancer Constellation -- The constellation Cancer, the crab, is known in astronomy and astrology as one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Cancer is small and dim, and does not resemble a crab. It lies between Gemini to the west and Leo to ...
Cartwheel Galaxy
Cartwheel Galaxy -- Located 500 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor, the Cartwheel Galaxy looks like a wagon wheel. The galaxy's nucleus is the bright object in the center of the image; the spoke-like structures are wisps of material...
Circinus Galaxy
Circinus Galaxy -- Resembling a swirling witch's cauldron of glowing vapors, the black hole-powered core of a nearby active galaxy appears in this colorful NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy lies 13 million light-years away in the southern c...
Comet Encke
Comet Encke -- Because of its proximity to the Sun and its stable orbit, comet Encke is probably one of the most evolved comets that still remains active. It may represent a transition object between an active comet and the defunct comets that are thou...
Halley's Comet
Halley's Comet -- Comet Halley, more generally known as Halley's Comet after Edmond Halley, is the best-known and the brightest of the "short-period" comets from the Kuiper belt that visit the inner solar system in years or decades-long orbits rather t...
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 -- Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is so-named because it was the ninth short-period comet discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy. It was first detected in a photograph taken on the night of March 24, 1993 with the ...
Comet Tempel-Tuttle
Comet Tempel-Tuttle -- Comet Tempel-Tuttle is an inherently faint and typically unspectacular comet that has only been observed on a few apparitions over the past 600 years. Its most recent apparition was in 1998, when it reached perihelion on Febr...
Cone Nebula
Cone Nebula -- The Cone Nebula is a famous nebula in the Orion Arm surrounding the NGC 2264 star cluster. The 'cone' is a triangular dark nebula near the bottom of the nebula. The bright star at the centre of this picture is 15 Monocerotis (or 'S M...
Crab Nebula
Crab Nebula -- The Crab Nebula (Messier 1, NGC 1952) is the object the which started Charles Messier logging non-cometary objects on his Messier Catalog. It is the expanding cloud of gas thrown off in the explosion that gave rise to the 1054 supern...
Cygnus X-1
Cygnus X-1 -- Cygnus X-1 (often abbreviated to Cyg X-1) is an X-ray source in the Cygnus constellation considered to be one of the most likely black hole candidates. The optical counterpart (HDE 226868) is a variable 8.9 magnitude star (visible wit...
Dactyl Asteroid
Dactyl Asteroid -- Dactyl, discovered in 1993, is a tiny asteroid (diameter 1.4 km) that orbits asteroid 243 Ida. The origins of Dactyl are unclear. The two main theories are that it and Ida formed at the same time, and that it was knocked loos...
Dumbbell Nebula
Dumbbell Nebula -- Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. The Dumbbell Nebula M27 was the first planetary nebula ever discovered. On July 12, 1764, Charles Messier discovered this new and fascinating class of objects, and describes this one as ...
Epsilon Eridani
Epsilon Eridani -- Epsilon Eridani is a main-sequence star in the constellation of Eridanus (the river). It is often used in science fiction because it is extremely sunlike, and in the fictional Star Trek universe it is the home sun of the planet Vulca...
433 Eros
433 Eros -- The asteroid 433 Eros was named after the Greek god of love Eros. It is an S-type asteroid approximately 13 x 13 x 33 km in size, the second-largest near-Earth asteroid. It was visited by the NEAR Shoemaker probe, which first orbited it...
Eta Carinae
Eta Carinae -- Eta Carinae is a very large (100-150 times as much mass as the Sun) and bright (about 4 million times as bright) star, in the constellation Carina (right ascension 10 h 45.1 m, declination -59�41m). The star is surrounded by a large...
Hoag's Object
Hoag's Object -- Hoag's object is a galaxy of the type known as a ring galaxy. A nearly perfect ring of young hot blue stars circle the older yellow nucleus of this ring galaxy 600 million light-years away in the constellation Serpens. The gala...
Horsehead Nebula
Horsehead Nebula -- The Horsehead Nebula, a part of the optical nebula IC434 and also known as Barnard 33, was first recorded in 1888 on a photographic plate taken at the Harvard College Observatory. Its coincidental appearance as the profile of a ...
Hourglass Nebula
Hourglass Nebula -- This is an image of MyCn18, a young planetary nebula located about 8,000 light-years away, taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This Hubble image reveals the true s...
Hubble's Variable Nebula
Hubble's Variable Nebula -- Hubble's variable nebula is named (like the Hubble telescope itself) after the American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who carried out some of the early studies of this object. It is a fan-shaped cloud of gas and dust which...
The Hyades
The Hyades -- The Hyades are an open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus. The closest star cluster to Earth, it is centered some 151 light years away. The brightest star in this direction is Aldebaran, but it is not a member of the clu...
Lagoon Nebula
Lagoon Nebula -- The Lagoon Nebula was discovered by Le Gentil in 1747. As often for diffuse nebulae, the cluster of young stars which has formed from the nebula's material was discovered first. In this case the young open cluster NGC 6530 in t...
Magellanic Clouds
Magellanic Clouds -- The two Magellanic Clouds are irregular dwarf galaxies orbiting our Milky Way galaxy, and thus are members of our Local Group of galaxies. The Large Magellanic Cloud, together with its apparent neighbour and relative, the Small...
Martian Meteorite
Martian Meteorite -- Mars meteorites include three rare groups of achondritic (stony) meteorites (16 objects total) with isotope ratios that are said to be consistent with each other and inconsistent with the earth. It should be pointed out, howeve...
Messier Object
Messier Object -- During the years from 1758 to 1782 Charles Messier, a French astronomer (1730 - 1817), compiled a list of approximately 100 diffuse objects that were difficult to distinguish from comets through the telescopes of the day. Discover...
Near-Earth Asteroid
Near-Earth Asteroid -- Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are asteroids whose orbit intersects Earth's orbit and which may therefore pose a collision danger, as well as being most easily accessible for spacecraft from Earth. In fact, some near-Earth aster...
Near-Earth Object
Near-Earth Object -- Near-Earth Objects (NEO) are asteroids, comets and large meteoroids whose orbit intersects Earth's orbit and which may therefore pose a collision danger. Due to their size and proximity, NEO's are also more easily accessible fo...
Omega Centauri
Omega Centauri -- Discovered by Edmond Halley in 1677. About 10 million stars orbit the center of this globular cluster - named Omega Centauri - as this giant globular cluster orbits our Galactic center. Recent evidence indicates that Omega Cen...
Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula -- Discovered 1610 by Nicholas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc. Located at a distance of about 1,600 (or perhaps 1,500) light years, the Orion Nebula is the brightest diffuse nebula in the sky, visible to the naked eye, and rewarding in telesc...
Owl Nebula
Owl Nebula -- Dicovered by Pierre M�chain in 1781. The Owl Nebula M97 is one of the fainter objects in Messier's catalog, discovered by Pierre M�chain on February 16, 1781. In his description of this object, Charles Messier also menti...
Pinwheel Galaxy (M101)
Pinwheel Galaxy -- Discovered by Pierre M�chain in 1781. M101 was discovered by Pierre M�chain on March 27, 1781, and added as one of the last entries in Charles Messier's catalog. It was the first "spiral nebula" identified as such b...
Pleiades
Pleiades -- in astronomy, in astronomy, famous open star cluster in the constellation Taurus; cataloged as M45. The cluster consists of some 500 stars, has a diameter of 35 light-years, and is 400 light- years distant from the earth. Six stars ...
Polaris
Polaris -- Polaris, Alpha Ursae Minoris, is the bright star closest to the north celestial pole. It is also known as the North Star, the Lode Star, or the Pole star. Because it lies nearly in a direct line with the axis of the Earth's rotation "abo...
Procyon
Procyon -- Procyon (α Canis Minoris) is a brilliant star that receives its name from the fact that it precedes the star Sirius as it travels across the Earth's sky. These two "dog stars" are referred to in the most ancient literature and were ve...
Proxima Centauri
Proxima Centauri -- The red dwarf star Proxima Centauri (also Alpha Centauri C), part of the Alpha Centauri star system, is the nearest star to our Earth other than the Sun. Proxima Centauri is roughly 4.22 light years from Earth, 270,000 times as ...
Ptolemy Cluster
Ptolemy Cluster -- Known to Ptolemy 130 AD. "M7 is a large and brilliant group, easily detected with the naked eye... the cluster is seen projected on a background of numerous faint and distant Milky Way stars." (Burnham). This splendid cluster...
Ring Nebula
Ring Nebula -- Discovered by Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix in 1779. The famous ring nebula M57 is often regarded as the prototype of a planetary nebula, and a showpiece in the northern hemisphere summer sky. Recent research has confirmed that i...
Rosette Nebula
Rosette Nebula -- Discovered by John Flamsteed about 1690. The Rosetta Nebula is a vast cloud of dust and gas, extending over an area of more than 1 degree across, or about 5 times the area covered by the full moon. Its parts have been assigned...
Saturn Nebula
Saturn Nebula -- The layers of the Saturn Nebula give a complex picture of how this planetary nebula was created. The above picture, taken in April 1996 and released last week, allows a better understanding of the mysterious process that transforme...
Seyfert's Sextet
Seyfert's Sextet -- Seyfert's Sextet is a group of galaxies in which gravitational forces are exerted between its members. The galaxies are so tightly packed together that gravitational forces are beginning to rip stars from them and distort their ...
Sirius
Sirius -- Sirius (α Canis Major, also known as the Dog Star) is the brightest star (-1.46m) in the night sky and can be seen from every inhabited region of the Earth's surface. At a distance of 8.6 light years, Sirius is also one of the nearest ...
Sombrero Galaxy
Sombrero Galaxy -- Discovered by Pierre M�chain or Charles Messier in 1781. M104 is numerically the first object of the catalog which was not included in Messier's originally published catalog. However, Charles Messier added it by hand to his ...
Sunflower Galaxy (M63)
Sunflower Galaxy (M63) -- Discovered 1779 by Pierre M�chain. M63 was the very first discovery of a Deep Sky object by Messier's friend, Pierre M�chain, who caught it up on June 14, 1779. On the same day, Charles Messier included it in his...
Supernova 1987a
Supernova 1987a -- Supernova 1987a was a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy. It occurred approximately 50 kiloparsecs from Earth, the closest supernova since Supernova 1604, which occurred in the Milky Way itself. Th...
Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti -- Tau Ceti is a star commonly used by science fiction authors since it is similar to the Sun, being of similar mass and similar spectral type as well as being relatively close to us. However, Tau Ceti is a "metal-deficient" star and there...
Triangulum Galaxy
Triangulum Galaxy -- The Triangulum Galaxy, Messier object M33, is a spiral galaxy of type Sc located in the constellation Triangulum. Triangulum is small relative to its larger neighbors such as the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy, but is about ave...
Trifid Nebula
Trifid Nebula -- Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. Charles Messier discovered this object on June 5, 1764, and described it as a cluster of stars of 8th to 9th magnitude, enveloped in nebulosity. The Trifid Nebula M20 is famous for its thr...
Vega
Vega -- Vega (Alpha Lyrae) is the lead star in the constellation Lyra, reaching near directly overhead the mid-northern latitudes, during the summer. It's a "nearby star" at only 25 light years distant and together with Arcturus and Sirius, one of ...
Virgo A Galaxy (M87)
Virgo A Galaxy -- Discovered 1781 by Charles Messier. The giant elliptical galaxy M87, also called Virgo A, is one of the most remarkable objects in the sky. It is perhaps the dominant galaxy in the closest big cluster to us, the famous Virgo Clust...
Virgo Cluster of Galaxies
Virgo Cluster of Galaxies -- This giant agglomeration of galaxies is the nearest big cluster of galaxies, the largest proven structure in our intergalactic neighborhood, and the most remote cosmic objects with a physical connection to our own small gro...
Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)
Whirlpool Galaxy -- Discovered 1773 by Charles Messier. The famous Whirlpool galaxy M51 was one of Charles Messier's original discoveries: He discovered it on October 13, 1773, when observing a comet, and described it as a "very faint nebula, witho...