Journey to Planetary Nebula NGC 2899 in Vela | Hubble FriendsofNASA.org: This video takes the viewer through space to reveal a new NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image that captures the beauty of the moth-like planetary nebula NGC 2899. This object has a diagonal, bipolar, cylindrical outflow of gas. This is propelled by radiation and stellar winds from a nearly 22,000 degree Celsius white dwarf at the center. In fact, there may be two companion stars that are interacting and

Round and round we go! This spiral galaxy is called NGC 2985. At about 70 million light-years away, its tightly wound spiral arms widen as they extend outward from the galaxy's bright core. Spiral galaxies like this one tend to run into other galaxies in space, often resulting in galactic mergers. These events scramble up the winding structures of the original galaxies, smoothing and rounding out their shape. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Ho Music credit: “Remote Machines” by Timothy James

You just found the Lost Galaxy! Also known as NGC 4535, this galaxy got its nickname because it looks hazy and ghostly when viewed with a smaller telescope. With Hubble, that’s not a problem. Even from 50 million light-years away, NGC 4535’s majestic spiral arms are in full focus. The bright blue seen within these spiral arms indicates the presence of a greater number of younger and hotter stars. The yellower tones of this galaxy’s central area suggest that it’s home to stars which are older and

The Helix Galaxy: NGC 2685 in Ursa Major FriendsofNASA.org: What is going on with this galaxy? NGC 2685 is a confirmed polar ring galaxy—a rare type of galaxy with stars, gas and dust orbiting in rings perpendicular to the plane of a flat galactic disk. The bizarre configuration could be caused by the chance capture of material from another galaxy by a disk galaxy with the captured debris strung out in a rotating ring. Still, observed properties of NGC 2685 suggest that the rotating helix struct