Hubble image of ESO 381-12: The ghostly shells of galaxy ESO 381-12 are captured here in a new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, set against a backdrop of distant galaxies. The strikingly uneven structure and the clusters of stars that orbit around the galaxy suggest that ESO 381-12 may have been part of a dramatic collision sometime in its relatively recent past.

Name: ESO 381-12, PGC 42871
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Lenticular
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Centaurus
Distance: 270 million light years
Release date: 9 July 2015, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Goudfrooij (STScI)

The area around ESO 381-12 (ground-based image): This image from the Digitized Sky Survey shows the area around galaxy ESO 381-12. The strikingly uneven structure and the clusters of stars that orbit around the galaxy suggest that ESO 381-12 may have been part of a dramatic collision sometime in its relatively recent past.

Name: ESO 381-12, PGC 42871
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Lenticular
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Centaurus
Release date: 9 July 2015, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2 (Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin)

New Hubble view of the Lagoon Nebula: This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the Lagoon Nebula, an object with a deceptively tranquil name. The region is filled with intense winds from hot stars, churning funnels of gas, and energetic star formation, all embedded within an intricate haze of gas and pitch-dark dust.

Name: Lagoon Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Sagittarius
Distance: 4500 light years
Release date: 30 July 2015, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Trauger (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Wide-field view of the Lagoon Nebula (ground-based image): This image from the Digitized Sky Survey shows the area around the Lagoon Nebula, otherwise known as Messier 8. This nebula is filled with intense winds from hot stars, churning funnels of gas, and energetic star formation, all embedded within an intricate haze of gas and pitch-dark dust.

Name: Herschel 36, Lagoon Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Sagittarius
Distance: 4500 light years
Release date: 30 July 2015, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2 (Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin)

The Twin Jet Nebula: The Twin Jet Nebula, or PN M2-9, is a striking example of a bipolar planetary nebula. Bipolar planetary nebulae are formed when the central object is not a single star, but a binary system, Studies have shown that the nebula’s size increases with time, and measurements of this rate of increase suggest that the stellar outburst that formed the lobes occurred just 1200 years ago.

Name: M2-9, Twin Jet Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Ophiuchus
Distance: 4000 light years
Release date: 26 August 2015, 15:00
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

The night sky around the Twin Jet Nebula (ground-based image): This image shows the region of sky around the planetary nebula called the Twin Jet Nebula. The bipolar planetary nebula lies about 4200 light-years away.

Name: M2-9, Twin Jet Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Ophiuchus
Release date: 26 August 2015, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2

The night sky around the Twin Jet Nebula (ground-based image): This image shows the region of sky around the planetary nebula called the Twin Jet Nebula. The bipolar planetary nebula lies about 4200 light-years away.

Name: M2-9, Twin Jet Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Ophiuchus
Release date: 26 August 2015, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2

The night sky around the Twin Jet Nebula (ground-based image): This image shows the region of sky around the planetary nebula called the Twin Jet Nebula. The bipolar planetary nebula lies about 4200 light-years away.

Name: M2-9, Twin Jet Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Ophiuchus
Release date: 26 August 2015, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2

The night sky around the Twin Jet Nebula (ground-based image): This image shows the region of sky around the planetary nebula called the Twin Jet Nebula. The bipolar planetary nebula lies about 4200 light-years away.

Name: M2-9, Twin Jet Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Ophiuchus
Release date: 26 August 2015, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2

Image of the galaxy cluster SpARCS1049: This image, using data from Spitzer and the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the galaxy cluster SpARCS1049.

Name: SpARCS1049+56
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: z=1.7 (redshift)
Release date: 10 September 2015, 19:00
Credit: NASA/STScI/ESA/JPL-Caltech/McGill

Image of the central region of SpARCS1049: This image, using data from Spitzer and the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the central region of the galaxy cluster SpARCS1049. The brightest cluster galaxy in the center of the cluster is currently undergoing a wet merger which produces enormous amounts of new stars. The tidal tail — an indicator of the merger — as well as the brightest cluster galaxy itself are shown.

Name: SpARCS1049+56
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Distance: z=1.7 (redshift)
Release date: 10 September 2015, 19:00
Credit: NASA/STScI/ESA/JPL-Caltech/McGill

The area around SpARCS1049+56 (ground-based image): This image shows the region of sky around the the distant galaxy cluster SpARCS1049+56. It took the light of the cluster 9.8 billion light-years to reach us. The cluster houses at least 27 galaxies, probably more, and has a combined mass equal to 400 trillion Suns.

Name: SpARCS1049+56
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Ursa Major
Release date: 10 September 2015, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2

Revisiting the Veil Nebula: This image shows a small section of the Veil Nebula, as it was observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This section of the outer shell of the famous supernova remnant is in a region known as NGC 6960 or — more colloquially — the Witch’s Broom Nebula.

Name: Cygnus Loop, NGC 6960, Veil Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Cygnus
Distance: 2100 light years
Release date: 24 September 2015, 16:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team

The Veil Nebula (ground-based view): This image shows the Veil supernova remnant and the surrounding sky. Due to the size of the Nebula the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope was able to only observe a small part of it in detail.

Name: Cygnus Loop, NGC 6960, Veil Nebula
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Cygnus
Distance: 2100 light years
Release date: 24 September 2015, 16:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2 Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin