Great observatories composite: Composite of images of the active galaxy Messier 82 from the three Great Observatories: Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope. X-ray data recorded by Chandra appears here in blue, infrared light recorded by Spitzer appears in red. Hubble's observation of hydrogen emission appears in orange. Hubble's bluest observation appears in yellow-green.

Name: Cigar Galaxy, Messier 82
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Activity : Starburst
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 13 million light years
Release date: 24 April 2006, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, and JPL-Caltech

Chandra image of Messier 82: Composite image of the active galaxy Messier 82 from x-ray observations by Chandra X-Ray Observatory in three energy bands coded in red (lowest energy x-ray photons), green and blue (highest energy).

Name: Cigar Galaxy, Messier 82
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Activity : Starburst
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 13 million light years
Release date: 24 April 2006, 15:00
Credit: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland

Spitzer image of Messier 82: Composite image of the active galaxy Messier 82 from infrared observations by Spitzer Space Telescope in three wavelength bands coded in red (longest wavelength), green, and blue (shortest wavelengths).

Name: Cigar Galaxy, M 82, Messier 82
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Activity : Starburst
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 13 million light years
Release date: 24 April 2006, 15:00
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/C. Engelbracht (University of Arizona)

The Ursa Major constellation (ground-based image): The galaxy Messier 82 is located 12 million light-years away. It appears high in the northern spring sky in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. Here Ursa Major is seen in a ground-based image taken by Akira Fujii.

Name: Cigar Galaxy, Messier 82, Ursa Major
Type: Milky Way : Sky Phenomenon : Night Sky : ConstellationLocal Universe : Galaxy : Activity : Starburst
Category: Galaxies
Distance: 13 million light years
Release date: 24 April 2006, 15:00
Credit: Akira Fujii

Digitized Sky Survey 2 image of M82 and M81 (ground-based image): The spiral galaxy M81 and the neighbour galaxy M82 are forming a physical pair. A few tens of million years ago, the smaller M82 collided with M81. This gravitational interaction deformed M82 and caused its concentrated burst of star formation.

Name: Cigar Galaxy, Messier 82
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Activity : Starburst
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 13 million light years
Release date: 24 April 2006, 15:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgements: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble )

Digitized Sky Survey 2 image of M82 and M81 (ground-based image): The spiral galaxy M81 and the neighbour galaxy M82 are forming a physical pair. A few tens of million years ago, the smaller M82 collided with M81. This gravitational interaction deformed M82 and caused its concentrated burst of star formation.

Name: Cigar Galaxy, Messier 82
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Activity : Starburst
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 13 million light years
Release date: 24 April 2006, 15:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgements: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble )

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 - Fragment B [18 April 2006]: The first image from a three-day observation with Hubble showing the breakup of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3's Fragment B.

Name: Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, Fragment B
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet : Nucleus
Category: Solar System
Release date: 27 April 2006, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (APL/JHU), M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI )

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 - Fragment B [19 April 2006]: The second image from a three-day observation with Hubble showing the breakup of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3's Fragment B.

Name: Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, Fragment B
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet : Nucleus
Category: Solar System
Release date: 27 April 2006, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (APL/JHU), M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI )

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 - Fragment B [20 April 2006]S: The last image from a three-day observation with Hubble showing the breakup of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3's Fragment B.

Name: Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, Fragment B
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet : Nucleus
Category: Solar System
Release date: 27 April 2006, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (APL/JHU), M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI )

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 - Fragment G [18 April 2006]: Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3's Fragment G.

Name: Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, Fragment G
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet : Nucleus
Category: Solar System
Release date: 27 April 2006, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (APL/JHU), M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI )

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 - Fragments B, G, R, N [ground-based]: Ground-based view of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 fragments B and G, R, and N on April 8, 2006 made with a 10"/380mm Schmidt Camera. The image is 80 arcminutes wide.

Name: Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, Fragment B, Fragment G, Fragment N, Fragment R
Type: Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet : Nucleus
Category: Solar System
Release date: 27 April 2006, 19:00
Credit: M. Jäger and G. Rhemann

Hubble captures a "five-star" rated gravitational lens: This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is the first-ever picture of a distant quasar lensed into five images. The group of five quasar images produced in a process called Gravitational Lensing, in which the gravitational field of a massive object - in this case, a cluster of galaxies - bends and amplifies light from an object - in this case, a quasar - farther behind it. Although other multiply lensed quasars have been seen before, for instance in the object known as the "Einstein Cross", this newly observed "quintuple quasar" is the only case so far in which multiple quasar images are produced by an entire galaxy cluster acting as a gravitational lens.

Name: SDSS J100434.05+4112
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Activity : AGN : Quasar
Category: Quasars and Black Holes
Constellation: Leo Minor
Distance: z=0.68 (redshift)
Release date: 23 May 2006, 12:00
Credit: European Space Agency, NASA, Keren Sharon (Tel-Aviv University) and Eran Ofek (CalTech)

Hubble captures a "five-star" rated gravitational lens: This full-size Hubble image shows galaxy cluster SDSS J1004+4112 that was discovered as part of the  Sloan Digital Sky Survey. It is one of the more distant clusters known (seven billion light-years, redshift z=0.68), and is seen when the Universe was half its present age. The image is the first-ever picture of a single distant quasar lensed into five images and also shows a rich abundance of banana-like arcs from lends background galaxies and even a supernova. Four of the five quasar images are seen as star-like images surrounding the centre of the cluster. The fifth quasar image is embedded to the right of the core of the central galaxy in the cluster.

Name: SDSS J100434.05+4112
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Leo Minor
Distance: z=0.68 (redshift)
Release date: 23 May 2006, 12:00
Credit: European Space Agency, NASA, Keren Sharon (Tel-Aviv University) and Eran Ofek (CalTech)