Gallery: Space Photos of the Week: Super Star Clusters ... So Hot RN
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubble-hotbed-of-vigorous-star-formation">ESA/Hubble & NASA</a>01SPoW-Jul2-07b.jpg
This is NGC 1569, a small starburst galaxy that’s a hotbed of vigorous star formation. As a result, the glittering galaxy is home to super star clusters, three of which are visible in this image. Each containing more than a million stars, these brilliant clusters reside within a large cavity of gas carved out by multiple supernovae, the energetic remnants of massive stars.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/hubble-captures-vivid-auroras-in-jupiter-s-atmosphere">NASA, ESA</a>02SPoW-Jul2-05.jpg
Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, is best known for its colorful storms, the most famous being the Great Red Spot. Now astronomers have focused on another beautiful feature of the planet, using Hubble's ultraviolet capabilities. The extraordinary vivid glows shown are auroras. They are created when high-energy particles enter a planet’s atmosphere near its magnetic poles and collide with atoms of gas.
<a href="http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/23/"> NASA, ESA</a>03SPoW-Jul2-01b.jpg
A stellar fireworks show is lighting up one end of the diminutive galaxy Kiso 5639. The dwarf galaxy is shaped like a flattened pancake, but because it is tilted edge-on, it resembles a skyrocket, with a brilliant blazing head and a long, star-studded tail. Kiso 5639 is a rare, nearby example of elongated galaxies seen in abundance in the early universe. Astronomers suggest that the frenzied star birth is sparked by intergalactic gas raining on one end of the galaxy as it drifts through space.
<a href="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/06/Mount_St_Helens">ESA</a>04SPoW-Jul2-10.jpg
Sentinal-2A captured this false-color image of Mount St Helens in Washington. The snow cover appears in light blue while pink represents areas with little to no vegetation. The active volcano is known for its May 1980 eruption, caused by an earthquake that lead to a massive landslide on the volcano’s north face. The volcano then exploded, depositing widespread ash and melting the mountain’s snow, ice and glaciers that formed a number of volcanic mudslides, or lahars. Some are still visible, particularly in the upper right in pink.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/intricate-surface-patterns-revealed-on-pluto-s-sputnik-planum">NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI</a>05SPoW-Jul2-08.jpg
Scientists on NASA’s New Horizons mission have processed images of Sputnik Planum, the vast nitrogen ice plains of Pluto, to bring out intricate, never-before-seen patterns in the surface textures of these glacial plains. The left inset shows an enhanced-color close-up of a region of cellular plains in the middle of Sputnik. The right inset is a “scattering map” of the same region, combining two images taken at two very different angles. Bright regions on the scattering image preferentially reflect sunlight forward, away from the direction of the sun, probably because they have a relatively smooth texture. Conversely, darker regions in the scattering map tend to reflect sunlight back toward the sun, probably because they have a rougher texture. This new and valuable view of the plains reveals distinct, intricate patterns within the cells that were not evident before.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20487/dark-and-arc">NASA/JPL-Caltech/</a>06SPoW-Jul2-04.jpg
At first glance, the most obvious features in this image from the Cassini spacecraft are Saturn's rings and the icy moon Enceladus. Upon closer inspection, Saturn's night side is also visible (near top center), faintly illuminated by sunlight reflected off the rings.
