NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured the picture on the left of comet Holmes in February 2008, four months after the comet suddenly erupted and brightened a millionfold overnight.
Latest Images
Anatomy of a Busted Comet
Stellar Work of Art
This painterly portrait of a star-forming cloud, called NGC 346, is a combination of multiwavelength light from three telescopes.
Supernova Flashback
The Cassiopeia A supernova's first flash of radiation makes clumps of dust unusually hot.
Multimedia Gallery
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Slide Show: Dazzling Universe
A new slide show features a few gems from the cosmos, including sparkling clusters of baby stars and the shimmery demise of a dying star.
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Slide Show: Snapshots of the Universe
Images of life and death in the universe.
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The Infrared Universe
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is using its infrared eyes to turn the dark and dusty cosmos into a beautiful garden of colorful objects.
Video Gallery
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Cauldron of Light
In this animation, a seething cauldron of light appears to bubble and ooze around the remains of a giant star that astronomers have been watching tear itself apart for the last 300 years.
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Video: Alien Sunsets
Luke Skywalker gazed upon a double sunset in "Star Wars." NASA scientists now believe the universe could be full of planets with sunsets like these.
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 "Alien Sunsets")
NASA Podcasts
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To Catch a Galactic Thief
A big bully of a galaxy has been caught stealing gas -- fuel for stars -- from a nearby, smaller galaxy.
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› Transcript