From supermassive black holes to galactic interactions, these are the best space photos taken from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory.
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| The center of the Milky Way contains a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A* - the bright white spot on the right of this image |
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| Located in the constellation Scorpio, the Pismis 24 open cluster is home to many massive stars. Open clusters consist of hundreds to thousands of stars, held together by gravity. |
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| The Lobster Nebula is a nebula located 5,500 light years from Earth. |
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| The distinctive rosette shape of these two large galaxies is caused by the gravitational pull pulling them downward. The interacting galaxies are called Arp 273. |
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| The Antennae galaxies are undergoing a starburst, in which clouds of gas and dust collide and form stars. The two interacting galaxies are located about 62 million light-years from Earth. |
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| The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter. Jupiter has a red spot that is 1.3 times larger than Earth. This spot is the result of an ancient storm that lasted for centuries. |
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| NGC 602 is an open cluster located in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way. On Earth, you can see the SMC if you are below or near the equator. |
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| The Carina Nebula is located about 7,500 light years from Earth. The orange elephant trunk is the result of a cloud of hot gas and dust. The elephant trunk, or cold molecular column, is a term used to describe the formation of interstellar matter in space. Interstellar matter is usually made up of gas and dust. |
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| The Westerlund 2 star cluster contains some of the most massive and brightest stars in the universe, and is estimated to be between 1 and 2 million years old. |
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| On the right of the image is the picturesque Whirlpool Galaxy in the process of merging with a smaller galaxy. The galaxy's long spirals are made up of stars, gas, and dust. |
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| Both of these spiral galaxies are located about 55 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo Cluster. |
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| The Veil Nebula is the remnant of a supernova explosion that occurred about 10,000 years ago. This part is called the Witch's Broom Nebula, or NGC 6960. Simply put, a supernova is a dying giant star that suddenly increases in brightness due to a violent explosion that dissipates most of its mass. |
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| This is a star-forming region in the constellation Cygnus. The center of the image is a newly formed star, called S106 IR. |
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| These two massive black holes began merging about 30 million years ago. Both are located in the galaxy NGC 6240. |
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| Located 6,500 light-years from Earth, the Crab Nebula is thought to be a remnant of a supernova from the year 1054. |
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| These combined spiral galaxies have been the site of three supernova explosions in the past 15 years. NGC 2207 (left) and IC 2163 (right) are about 130 million light-years from Earth. |
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| The Tarantula Nebula is a star-shaped region located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a spiral galaxy near the Milky Way. The Tarantula Nebula is home to the most massive star ever found, R136a1. |
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| The Cat's Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula located about 3,000 light years from Earth. The star at the center of the nebula is surrounded by a cloud of extremely hot gas. |
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| Also known as Barnard 33, the Horsehead Nebula is a dark nebula located in the constellation Orion. (A dark nebula is a dense, dark, non-luminous cloud.) |
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| The Butterfly Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpius. With an estimated temperature of 250,000 degrees Celsius, the dying star at the center of the nebula is five times the mass of the Sun. |
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| This star-shaped region is located about 20,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Carina. |
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| Colorful Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant in the constellation Cassiopeia. Cas A is the youngest star in the Milky Way. |
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| Stephan's Quintet is a small group of five galaxies in the constellation Pegasus. Over time, four of the five galaxies will merge together. |
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| The elephant trunks are the Pillars of Creation, an active region of star formation in the Milky Way. The pillars are located in the Eagle Nebula, an open cluster in the constellation Serpent. |
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| This star-forming cluster can be found in the LMC in N44, a beautifully structured emission nebula. |
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| The Sombrero Galaxy is 50,000 light-years across, about 30% the size of the Milky Way. It is located in the southern fringe of the constellation Virgo. |
According to Dantri
