M57: The Ring Nebula
5.06.2013

Except for the rings of Saturn, the Ring Nebula (M57) is probably the most famous celestial band. Its classic appearance is understood to be due to our own perspective, though. The recent mapping...

X-Ray Ring Around SN1987A
12.05.2000

This false-color image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals a one light-year diameter ring of hot, ten million degree plasma. It is one of the most detailed X-ray images of the expanding blast wave from supernova 1987A (SN1987A).

Cassini Spacecraft Crosses Saturns Ring Plane
29.12.2019

If this is Saturn, where are the rings? When Saturn's "appendages" disappeared in 1612, Galileo did not understand why. Later that century, it became understood that Saturn's unusual protrusions were rings and that when the Earth crosses the ring plane, the edge-on rings will appear to disappear.

Ice Ring around Nearby Star Fomalhaut
3.10.2017

Why is there a large ice ring around Fomalhaut? This interesting star -- easily visible in the night sky -- lies only about 25 light-years away and is known to be orbited by at least one planet, Dagon, as well as several inner dust disks.

Vela Pulsar: Neutron Star-Ring-Jet
9.06.2000

This stunning image from the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory is centered on the Vela pulsar -- the collapsed stellar core within the Vela supernova remnant some 800 light-years distant. The Vela pulsar is a neutron star. More massive than the Sun, it has the

SDSSJ1430: A Galaxy Einstein Ring
28.07.2008

What's large and blue and can wrap itself around an entire galaxy? A gravitational lens mirage. Pictured above on the left, the gravity of a normal white galaxy has gravitationally distorted the light from a much more distant blue galaxy.

Dark Matter Ring Modeled around Galaxy Cluster CL0024 17
16.05.2007

How do we know that dark matter isn't just normal matter exhibiting strange gravity? A new observation of gravitationally magnified faint galaxies far in the distance behind a massive cluster of galaxies is shedding new dark on the subject.

Red Planet Red Moon and Mars
9.08.2018

Mars is also known as The Red Planet, often seen with a reddish tinge in dark night skies. Mars shines brightly at the upper left of this gorgeous morning twilight view from Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, but the Moon and planet Earth look redder still. Taken on July 27, the totally eclipsed Moon is setting.

Galileo Zooms in on Jupiter's Red Spot
27.08.1996

What does the largest storm system ever recorded look like close-up? This storm system is Jupiter's Great Red Spot and it was captured recently in detail by the robot spacecraft Galileo now in orbit around Jupiter.

Aurora in Red and Yellow
10.04.2000

The past week brought some spectacular aurora to northern skies. These aurorae were caused by a large interplanetary shock wave that exploded from the Sun on April 4. When the shock wave reached the Earth on April 6, the resulting aurora could be seen in clear skies as far south as North Carolina.