PIX4618132: Nebula M78 in Orion - M78 nebula in Orion - The nebula M78 (NGC 2068) is located about 1300 years - light from Earth and extends over 4 years - light. M78, (NGC 2068) is part of the Orion complex, a large region of star - forming gas and dust centred around M42 and M43. It is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula in the sky, and fairly easy to see with binoculars (and almost visible to the naked eye, claim some observers). M78 is some 1600 light - years away and around 4 light - years across / Bridgeman Images

PIX4615280: Mars - Image recomposed from altimetric data obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor probe in 2000. Lower left the Hellas basin, above Syris Major, on the right the Elysium volcanoes / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618914: Nebula NGC 3372 and cluster of stars in the Carene - The nebula of the Carene is located about 7000 years from the Earth. It houses many hot stars, including the star Eta Carinae. On its right, the cluster of stars NGC 3532 / Bridgeman Images

PIX4616441: Frost patterns in Louth crater - Mars: frost patterns in Louth crater - This image shows frost deposits on martian dunes located in the Louth crater (70.2N 256.9W) / Bridgeman Images

PIX4615181: March: 1st photo of the surface - 1st photo of the surface of Mars obtained by the Viking 1 probe on 20 July 1976 / Bridgeman Images

PIX4616419: March: Detail of the region of Candor Chasma. - Detail of the region of Candor Chasma, in Valles Marineris, obtained in September 2006 by the HIRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance orbiter probe. The white cretes visible in the lower part of the image would have been formed by the passage of water through the basement of the planet millions of years ago / Bridgeman Images

PIX4617145: Mercury by Mariner 10 - Mosaic of images obtained by the Mariner probe 10. Recolorated image. Missing data on top right / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618377: Nebula NGC 2170 in Unicorn - Nebula NGC 2170 in Monoceros - Nebula by reflexion located in the constellation Unicorn. This rich collection of predominantly reflection and sparse emission nebulosity exists in the western part of a vast star forming region known as the Mon R 2 association. The “” R”” designation stands for reflection and indicates an association of stars illuminating reflection nebulae. Most of the members of Mon R 2 are type B stars located along an east - west line stretching across 2 degrees of the winter sky, situated about 8 degrees east of the Orion Nebula. The Mon R 2 association resides at a distance of 830 pc and formed about 6 to 10 million years ago along the edge of the Mon R2 molecular cloud / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619732: Nebulae M8 and NGC 6559 in Sagittarius - Nebulae M8 and NGC 6559 in Sagittarius - View of nebulae of the Lagoon (M - 8/ngc 6523), on the right, and of NGC 6559 (left). Located in Sagittarius, these nebulae are about 5000 light years away from Earth / Bridgeman Images

JLJ4619573: Map of the Molucca Archipelago in East Indonesia. Geographic map, 17th century (gouache and lead mine), Doetechum, Jan van (17th century) / Bridgeman Images

PIX4617696: Orion Nebula - M42 - M43 - Orion Nebula - M42 - M43 - Orion Nebula is the closest region of star formation in the Sun / Bridgeman Images

PIX4617852: Orion Nebula (M42 - 43) - The Orion Nebula - Located 1500 years ago - the Orion Nebula is the closest region to the formation of stars of the Sun. Image obtained with Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. The Orion Nebula is famous for a number of reasons. It is the nearest bright nebula to us and can be seen with the naked eye. Its brightness led to it being the first nebula ever photographed (in 1882) and its proximity (1500 light years) means that we know more about it than any other star - forming region. It is also in a very active stage of star formation and it is perfectly placed for us to explore the intimate details of the birth of stars. The inner regions are glowing mainly in the red light of excited hydrogen, which together with some green emission from oxygen give the centre of the nebula a yellowish colour. The energy for this spectacular display comes from the small cluster of stars in the brightest part of the nebula. Three, five - minute exposures were used to make this picture using the Anglo - Australian Telescope at Siding Spring / Bridgeman Images

PIX4617467: Nebula NGC 281 in Cassiope / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618312: Around the Tarantula Nebula - Around the Tarantula nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud - The Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070, is a vast star-forming region located north of the Great Magellan Cloud galaxy in the southern hemisphere about 170,000 years - light from Earth. Image obtained with Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. Known as the Tarantula Nebula for its spidery appearance, the 30 Doradus complex is a monstrous stellar factory. It is the largest emission nebula in the sky, and can be seen far down in the southern sky at a distance of about 170,000 light - years, in the southern constellation Dorado. It is part of one of the Milky Way's neighbouring galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Tarantula Nebula contains some of the most massive stars known / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618203: Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) in the river bream - The Tarantula Nebula - The Tarantula Nebula (or 30 Sea bream) is the largest star-forming region of the Great Magellan Cloud. It is located 170,000 light years ago in the constellation Dorado (southern hemisphere). At the center of this nebula, the open cluster of R136 stars, clusters of hot and massive stars. Image obtained with the large field camera of the 2.2m ESO/MPG telescope in Chile. Composite colour image of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and its surroundings. The LMC is a satellite galaxy to our Milky Way system, located in the southern constellation Dorado (The Swordfish) at a distance of approximately 170,000 light - years. The image is based on 15 exposures in the visual part of the spectrum with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera on the 2.2 - m MPG/ESO telescope at the La Silla Observatory / Bridgeman Images

PIX4615979: Mars - The crater that smiles - The Galle crater is 230 km in diameter and is located in the Argyre basin. Assembly of five images obtained by the Mars Express probe from 2004 to 2006 / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618320: Around the Tarantula Nebula - Around the Tarantula nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud - The Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070, is a vast star-forming region located north of the Great Magellan Cloud galaxy in the southern hemisphere about 170,000 years - light from Earth. Image obtained with the 1.2m Schmidt UK Telescope from Siding Spring. Known as the Tarantula Nebula for its spidery appearance, the 30 Doradus complex is a monstrous stellar factory. It is the largest emission nebula in the sky, and can be seen far down in the southern sky at a distance of about 170,000 light - years, in the southern constellation Dorado. It is part of one of the Milky Way's neighbouring galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Tarantula Nebula contains some of the most massive stars known / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619653: Nebula of the Lagoon (M8) in the Sagittair / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619593: Nebula of the Lagoon (M8) in Sagittarius - The Lagoon nebula (M8) in Sagittarius - View of the Nebula of the Lagoon (M8/NGC 6523). Located in Sagittarius, at a distance of 5800 years - light, it is visible to the naked eye in good conditions. It is a star-forming region illuminated by several large O-type stars that belong to the open cluster NGC 6530 visible towards the center of the image. The brightest part of the nebula is called the hourglass nebula whose gases are excited mainly by two massive supergeant stars Herschel 36 and 9 Sagittarii. M8 has at least 60 Giant B stars, 3 to 4 times more than the Orion Nebula. The Lagoon nebula (M8), can be visible to the unaided eye as a small bright patch above the large Sagittarius star cloud in the Milky Way. The Lagoon nebula is a star - forming region about 5800 light years from us. The nebula is illuminated by several O - type giants within the open cluster NGC 6530 near the center of the nebula. The brightest part of the nebula is known as the “hourglass nebula”” and its gases are excited primarily by two massive O - type supergiants designated Herschel 36 and 9 Sagittarii. At least 60 B - type giants are embedded in the nebula which make M8 3 to 4 times richer in massive stars than the Orion nebula / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619363: Nebulae NGC 6334 and NGC 6357 in Scorpio / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619403: Nebula NGC 6357 in Scorpio - Nebula NGC 6357 in Scorpio / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619445: Nebula M20 in Sagittarius - View of the nebula Trifide (M20/ngc 6514) in the constellation Sagittarius / Bridgeman Images

PIX4616438: March: Victoria crater. - March: Victoria Crater at Meridiani Planum - View of the Victoria crater obtained by the HIRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance orbiter probe. This crater is 800 meters in diameter. The opportunity rover reached this crater on September 27, 2006. After exploring about a quarter of the crater's edges, the rover descended almost a year later to begin an exploration of the crater's interior. Victoria Crater, about 800 meters (one - half mile) in diameter, has been home ground for Nasa's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity for more 14 of the rover's first 46 months on Mars. Opportunity first reached the crater's rim on Sept. 27, 2006, during the 951st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work in the Meridian Planum region of Mars. The rover then explored clockwise about one - fourth of the way around the rim before returning to a point close to its first overlook. On the mission's 1,293rd sol (Sept. 13, 2007), Opportunity began a sustained exploration of the interior of the crater, entering at an alcove called “” Duck Bay””” on the western side of Victoria. Image obtained from the HIRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance orbiter / Bridgeman Images

PIX4616015: March: Caldera of the volcano Apollinaris Patera - This Martian volcano is 180 to 280 km from its base and rises at about 5000 m altitude. Its caldera seen here by the Mars Express probe on October 26, 2004 measures 80 km in diameter and a depth of 1 km / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618057: Nebulae NGC 1973 - 1975 - 1977 in Orion - The reflection nebulae NGC 1973 - 75 - 77 in Orion - Reflection nebulae located just north of the Great Orion Nebula. This group of nebulous stars is just half a degree north of the much brighter Orion Nebula and has largely been ignored because of it. The group of stars here appear as a single star to the unaided eye, the northernmost 'star' in the sword of Orion. Most of the blue nebulosity is starlight scattered by dust, while some of the stars are sufficiently hot to excite the wisps of hydrogen that linger here and create a distinctive red glow / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618093: Nebula M43 in Orion - M43 nebula in Orion - Nebula M43 (NGC 1982) is part of the great Nebula of Orion (M42), a vast region of star formation. This image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) shows a detail of the nebula people of bright young stars accompanied by very young stars still surrounded by their cocoon of dust. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a close - up view of an outer part of the Orion Nebula's little brother, Messier 43. This nebula, which is sometimes referred to as De Mairan's Nebula after its discoverer, is separated from the famous Orion Nebula (Messier 42) by only a dark lane of dust. Both nebulae are part of the massive stellar nursery called the Orion molecular cloud complex, which includes several other nebulae, such as the Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) and the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024). This view shows several of the brilliant hot young stars in this less - studied region and it also reveals many of the curious features around even younger stars that are still cocooned by dust. This picture was created from images taken using the Wide Field Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images through yellow (F555W, coloured blue) and near - infrared (F814W, coloured red) filters were combined. The exposure times were 1000 s per filter and the field of view is about 3.3 arcminutes across / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619380: Nebula NGC 6334 in Scorpio - Cat's Paw nebula (NGC 6334) in Scorpius - The nebula NGC 6334 is located about 5500 years - light from Earth. It is a vast region of star formation. The Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) is a vast region of star formation. NGC 6334 lies about 5500 light - years from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius. The whole gas cloud is about 50 light - years across. NGC 6334 is one of the most active nurseries of massive stars in our galaxy and has been extensively studied by astronomers / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618301: Tarantula Nebula in the Great Magellan Cloud - Tarantula nebula (NGC 2070) in Dorado - NGC 2070, the Tarantula Nebula is a vast star-forming region located north of the Great Magellan Cloud galaxy, in the southern hemisphere about 170,000 years - light from Earth. Image obtained by combining light through different filters (SII 5x 2min, Ha 20x 2min, [OIII] 11x 2min, H - beta 10x 2min, L (IR) 2x 2min, IR 4x 2min, R 8x 2min, G 5x 2min). The largest emission nebula in the sky, the Tarantula Nebula (also known as NGC 2070 or 30 Doradus) is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in the southern hemisphere at about 170,000 light year from Earth. Image obtained with different filters (SII 5x 2min, Ha 20x 2min, [OIII] 11x 2min, H - beta 10x 2min, L (IR) 2x 2min, IR 4x 2min, R 8x 2min, G 5x 2min) / Bridgeman Images

PIX4617483: Nebula NGC 281 in Cassiopee - Nebula NGC 281 in Cassiopeia - NGC 281 is a star-forming region about 10,000 light years away from Earth in the constellation Cassiopee. At the center of this nebula is the cluster of stars IC 1590 whose stars are only a few million years old. A composite of X-ray images obtained by the Chandra Space Telescope in purple and infrared by Spitzer in red green and blue. High - mass stars are important because they are responsible for much of the energy pumped into our galaxy over its lifetime. Unfortunately, these stars are poorly understood because they are often found relatively far away and can be obscured by gas and dust. The star cluster NGC 281 is an exception to this rule. It is located about 6,500 light years from Earth and, remarkably, almost 1,000 light years above the plane of the galaxy, giving astronomers a nearly unfettered view of the star formation within IT.This composite image of NGC 281 contains X - ray data from Chandra, in purple, with infrared observations from Spitzer, in red, green, blue. The high - mass stars in NGC 281 drive many aspects of their galactic environment through powerful winds flowing from their surfaces and intense radiation that creates charged particles by stripping electrons off atoms. The eventual deaths of massive stars as supernovas will also seed the galaxy with material and energy. NGC 281 is known informally as the “” Pacman Nebula”” because of its appearance in optical images. In optical images the “” mouth”” of the Pacman character appears dark because of obscuration by dust and gas, but in the infrared Spitzer image the dust in this region glows brightly. NGC 281 is typically divided into two subregions: the region in the upper middle of the image, which is surrounded by the purple 10 - million - degree gas, and a younger region in the lower part of the image. There is evidence that the formation of a cluster, appearing in a beige cl / Bridgeman Images

PIX4615591: March: Spirit on Mars - Detail of 360 degres panorama obtained by Spirit on 12 and 13 March 2004 / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618963: Nebula NGC 3372 in the Carene - The nebula of the Carene is located about 7000 light years from the Earth. It is home to many hot stars, including the star Eta Carinae (on the left, the brightest star in the picture). In the right center, a cluster of young stars, Trumpler 14. Image made with the 1.5m Danish telescope of La Silla in Chile / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618628: Nebulae around the cluster NGC 2264 - The Cone nebula at the top is an H II region located about 2600 light years away from Earth. The bright star in the center is S Monocerotis, a star of magnitude 4.7. Image obtained by the Oschin telescope of Mount Palomar through several filters and composed / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619091: Nebula NGC 3372 in Carene - Nebula NGC 3372 in Carina: The nebula of Carene is located about 7000 light years from Earth. It is home to many hot stars, including the star Eta Carinae. Composite image made from multiple sources, including data from the space telescope Hubble - This image shows a giant star-forming region in the southern sky known as the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372). Composite image from multiple data sources (Hubble Space Telescope, ESO, amateur Data) / Bridgeman Images

PIX4618266: Tarantula (NGC 2070) in the LMC - The nebula around 30 Doradus (NGC 2070) in the LMC - The Tarantula Nebula (or 30 Bream) is the largest star-forming region of the Great Magellan Cloud. It is located 170,000 light years ago in the constellation Dorado (southern hemisphere). At the center of this nebula, the open cluster of R136 stars, clusters of hot and massive stars. Image obtained with Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. The brightest cluster of stars in this picture was believed until recently to contain a single, uniquely massive object with the mass equivalent to 1000 suns, and was named as a star, 30 Doradus. Sophisticated image analysis techniques have been used to show that 30 Doradus is a very compact group of stars, many of which are massive, but not unimaginably so. The radiation from this star cluster is sufficient to excite a huge cloud of hydrogen gas in its vicinity so that it glows with its distinctive red colour. This picture is essentially a one minute exposure. A longer exposure would show that the curving tendrils of nebulosity are the brightest parts of the huge Tarantula nebula, one of the largest star - forming regions known anywhere / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619512: Nebula Trifide (M20) in the constellation Sagittarius - Trifid nebula (M20) in Sagittarius - View of the Trifide nebula (M20/NGC 6514) located in the constellation Sagittarius between 5000 and 10,000 years - light from Earth. Measuring some forty light years across, this nebula contains enough gas to make many thousands of suns. Within it a number of young hot stars have already formed. The hottest cause the gas, mostly hydrogen, to emit its characteristic red light. Around the red emission nebula the gas contains many dust grains which preferentially reflect the blue component of starlight. In some parts of the nebula there are so many dust grains that they hide the glowing gas, producing the three dark lanes which give the object its name. Trifid is located in Sagittarius constellation between 5000 and 10 000 light - years away / Bridgeman Images

PIX4619552: Center of the Trifid Nebula (M20) - Center of the Trifid Nebula - The Trifid Nebula (M20) is located between 5000 and 10,000 years - light of the Earth in the constellation of Sagittarius. This image obtained by the Hubble space telescope shows the center of this nebula. A group of bright stars is visible in the center of the image near the dark bands of interstellar dust. These stars are young, blue, massive and extremely hot stars; they are O-type stars and the radiation they emit influence the evolution and structure of the nebula. Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20 and NGC 6514, lies within our own Milky Way Galaxy between 5000 and 10 000 light - years from Earth, in the constellation Sagittarius. This image from the Hubble Space Telescope offers a close - up view of the center of the Trifid Nebula, near the intersection of the dust bands, where a group of recently formed, massive, bright stars is easily visible. These stars, which astronomers classify as belonging to the hottest and bluest types of stars called type “” O,””” are releasing a flood of ultraviolet radiation that dramatically influences the structure and evolution of the surrounding nebula / Bridgeman Images