Space Exploration Gallery

Spiral galaxy (NGC 1309)

Taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. A gorgeous spiral galaxy some 100 million light-years distant, NGC 1309 lies on the banks of the constellation of the River (Eridanus). NGC 1309 spans about 30, 000 light-years, making it about one third the size of our larger Milky Way galaxy. Bluish clusters of young stars and dust lanes are seen to trace out NGC 1309's spiral arms as they wind around an older yellowish star population at its core

© Stocktrek

Earthrise - Apollo 8, December 24, 1968. Creator: William A Anders

Earthrise - Apollo 8, December 24, 1968. This view of the rising Earth greeted the Apollo 8 astronauts as they came from behind the Moon after the fourth nearside orbit. The photo, by astronaut William Anders, is displayed here in its original orientation, though it is more commonly viewed with the lunar surface at the bottom of the photo. Earth is about five degrees left of the horizon in the photo. The unnamed surface features on the left are near the eastern limb of the Moon as viewed from Earth. The lunar horizon is approximately 780 kilometers from the spacecraft. Height of the photographed area at the lunar horizon is about 175 kilometers

© Heritage Space/Heritage Images

A spaceship in orbit over Mars moon, Phobos, with the red planet Mars in the background

The landing struts on this Mars-bound spaceship are deployed and checked in orbit prior to landing on the red planet. Mars is seen here some 93, 000 kilometres away from the its inner satellite, Phobos. The Martian polar cap is plainly visible on the upper horizon in this artist's conception

© Frank Hettick/Stocktrek Images

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