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This is the incredible Swan Nebula, captured by combining the data between the SOFIA, Herschel and Spitzer telecopes. In the middle, where the blue gas glows, new stars are born. Recent observations of the nebula have found that the swan shape is probably a result of two nebulas merging together long ago.
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This moody photo shows another side of the Swan Nebula. Taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope, this image was taken without being filtered for infrared or x-ray light - meaning that this is actually what the nebula looks like to the naked human eye. If you rocked up to the Swan Nebula in a rocket, this is what you would see.
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This is an infrared photo of the Swan Nebula, taken with the Spitzer telescope. Unclouded by stars like the previous photo, this image shows more detail and activity inside the busy nebula. In the center we see a bright area of starlight, where huge stars are expelling streams of bright gas, shaping the clouds of debris around them.
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This image, which looks uncannily like a labradorite crystal, is what the Swan Nebula looks like through the Hubble Space Telescope. The center of the nebula is shrouded in a cloud of hydrogen gas, and the incredible blue and green hues of this photo reveal the oxygen atoms, as well as sulfur, hydrogen and nitrogen.
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This stunning image looks more like an artist's interpretation of heaven than a photo from outer space. But, some things in this universe are as magical as we imagine the impossible to be. This otherwordly photo shows the Swan Nebula, glowing orange like a sea of fire, surrounded by blue hydrogen clouds. Taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, this photo is definitely one of our favorite space photos ever. Isn't it stunning?
Five Ethereal Photos Of The Swan Nebula
Nebulas are giant clouds of gas and dust in space, and although they don't sound beautiful, nebulas are the most photogenic things in the universe. The telescopes we use to photograph nebulas focus on different colors and temperatures, meaning that each telescope will show us something different about the nebulas (and much more than our naked eyes could see).
In the following photos, we explore the Swan Nebula (also known as Omega or M17) in it's different forms as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA's SOFIA and Spitzer telescopes, and ESA's Herschel telecope. Strap yourself in, these photos are going to blow your mind. Need some more brain food? Read about an 800,000 year old crater that may have just been discovered.
This article first appeared on WIRED.
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