redirect
Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur Image Credit Copyright: César Blanco González The Orion Nebula is among the most intensely studied celestial features.The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have directly observed protoplanetary disks, brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of the gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the nebula.
APOD: 2011 September 4 - In the Shadow of Saturn
Saturn, photographed by Cassini. In what some call “the most stunning photograph ever taken”, the Cassini probe captured Saturn backlit by the Sun. What's more stunning is that Earth is visible in this photo, as a tiny dot just above the rings on the left.