@nasachandraxray

Today Chandra is gazing at #galaxy NGC 4631, also known as the Whale Galaxy. A spiral galaxy that we view from the side from our vantage point of Earth, its core is filled with star birth and recent supernova activity. The Whale is located about 30 million light-years from Earth. 📱Want #amazing #space #wallpaper for your phone? The link is in our bio! Optical: NASA, ESA, Hubble #space science #star #birth #whale Video Description: This is an optical view of the Whale Galaxy from Hubble. The core of the galaxy, toward the top of the image, tapers off below toward the outer regions where there are fewer stars and less dust, but pockets of star formation are still present. The core is bright with stars that light up the dusty spiral arms in shades of brown, both from behind and within. The tapered outer reaches of the galaxy are mostly blue and white.

Nicknamed the Spirograph Nebula, IC 418 is located roughly 3,900 light-years from Earth and it's about 0.37 light-years across. Intricate shapes within the #nebula appear similar to the patterns created when using a Spirograph — a device used to draw elaborate curves on paper. 📱Want this #amazing #space #pic as #phone #background? You'll find the link in our bio! X-ray (Chandra): #NASA, CXC, SAO; Optical (#Hubble): NASA, ESA, AURA, STScI

Today Chandra is peering at a pulsar in Puppis. Nearby in the sky is planetary #nebula NGC 2440. A #star nearing the end of its life is casting off its outer layers of gas, forming a cocoon around the star's remaining core. Ultraviolet light from the dying star makes the material glow. 📱Want #free #amazing #space #pics as a #backgrounds for your phone or tablet? The link is in our profile! NASA, ESA, Hubble

Today Chandra is helping us learn more about the core of the Circinus Galaxy. Located only about 13 million light-years from Earth, Circinus is one of the closest known galaxies to our Milky Way that contains an actively growing supermassive #BlackHole. 📱Want #beautiful #space #backgrounds for your phone? The link is in our bio! X-ray (Chandra): NASA, CXC, Columbia/F.Bauer et al.; Optical (Hubble): NASA, STScI, UMD/A.Wilson et al.) #universe #galaxies #black #hole #science

Zeta Ophiuchi is a star with a complicated past, having likely been ejected from its birthplace at more than 150,000 km/hour when its companion star was destroyed in a supernova explosion. A new look with Chandra tells more of the story of this runaway star. More in the comments... 📱Want this #amazing #pic as #background #wallpaper for your phone or tablet? The link is in our profile! 🤔Learn even more about the #space #science behind the #image at https://chandra.si.edu X-ray (Chandra): NASA, CXC, Dublin Inst. Advanced Studies/S. Green et al.; Infrared (Spitzer): NASA, JPL

Today Chandra is studying stars in Taurus. Nearby in the sky is IRAS 05437+2502, a reflection Nebula located about 400 light years from Earth. The bright crescent-shaped feature in the image was likely produced by a #star whizzing through the #nebula at 200,000 km/hour or more. 📱Want this #beautiful #space #backgrounds for your phone? Follow the link in our profile! Optical/Infrared (Hubble): NASA, ESA #dark #space #stars #universe #science

Today Chandra is studying massive #stars in Sagittarius. Nearby in the sky is the Little Gem Nebula — a star shedding its outer layers to form an eye-catching planetary nebula. Roughly half a light-year across, the #nebula is enormous compared to its itsy-bitsy central star. 📱Want #beautiful #space #wallpaper for your phone? The link is in our profile! Optical: NASA, ESA, Hubble #science #gem #cosmos #pretty #universe

Pulsar IGR J11014 is zooming away from a #supernova remnant at over 4 million kilometers per hour — likely kicked to speed by a supernova explosion! The extraordinary jet trailing behind the #pulsar stretches for more than 37 light-years!🌠 🤔Want to #learn more about the #space #science behind the #image? https://chandra.harvard.edu/instagram/ X-ray (Chandra & XMM-Newton): NASA/CXC/UC Berkeley/J.Tomsick et al & ESA/XMM-Newton, Optical (Digitized Sky Survey): DSS; IR (2MASS): UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF

The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope are here!😮😁 ✨Image 1: Carina Nebula This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. Called the Cosmic Cliffs, Webb’s seemingly three-dimensional picture looks like craggy mountains on a moonlit evening. In reality, it is the edge of the giant, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, and the tallest “peaks” in this image are about 7 light-years high. The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image. ✨Image 2: Southern Ring Nebula Some stars save the best for last. The dimmer star at the center of this scene has been sending out rings of gas and dust for thousands of years in all directions, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed for the first time that this star is cloaked in dust. Two cameras aboard Webb captured the latest image of this planetary nebula, cataloged as NGC 3132, and known informally as the Southern Ring Nebula. It is approximately 2,500 light-years away. Webb will allow astronomers to dig into many more specifics about planetary nebulae like this one – clouds of gas and dust expelled by dying stars. Understanding which molecules are present, and where they lie throughout the shells of gas and dust will help researchers refine their knowledge of these objects. 😁 MORE in the comments! Credit (All images): NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

N49 is one of the brightest supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. The delicate knots and filaments seen throughout the remnant are debris from the stellar explosion at temperatures ranging from thousands to millions of degrees. N49 is approximately 75 light-years across and it's located about 160,000 light-years from Earth. X-ray (Chandra): NASA, CXC, Caltech/S.Kulkarni et al.; Infrared (Spitzer): NASA, JPL-Caltech/R.Gehrz et al. Optical (Hubble): NASA, STScI, UIUC/Y.H.Chu & R.Williams et al.; #science #NASA #telescopes #hot #temperature #wow

Nicknamed the Garden-Sprinkler Nebula, Henize 3-1475 is located about 18,000 light-years from Earth. A planetary nebula in the making, it's in a short-lived phase where it is referred to as a "protoplanetary" or "preplanetary" nebula. X-ray (Chandra): NASA, CXC, RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical (Hubble): NASA, STScI, Univ. MD/J.P.Harrington #science is #beautiful

Happy #4thofJuly! Awe-inspiring #fireworks are happening on a galactic scale in M106. Jets from a supermassive black hole are generating powerful shock waves. The shock waves are then heating gas, enough gas to make up about 10 million Suns, to thousands of degrees in a spectacular display! X-ray (Chandra): NASA, CXC, Caltech/P.Ogle et al.; Optical: NASA, STScI & R.Gendler; Infrared (Spitzer): NASA, JPL-Caltech; Radio (Very Large Array): NSF, NRAO #space #science #universe #pyrotechnic #IndependenceDay