Markarian 178 lingers quietly in the constellation Ursa Major, a mere 13 million light years from our own home planet earth. As a blue compact dwarf galaxy, it’s around 5,700 light-years wide, small in comparison to the Milky Way’s vast expanse. Astronomers first noticed it in the 1960s and 1970s for its extremely bright ultraviolet glow, which Benjamin Markarian “collected” in his catalog. There are actually over 1,500 Markarian galaxies, each of which shines in ultraviolet due to the high energy processes that occur within them.

NASA and Japan’s JAXA have collaborated to investigate Cassiopeia A, also known as Cas A, a large debris field located 11,000 light years away and around 340 years old. The XRISM satellite was expressly created to examine star graveyards in greater detail than ever before, and it has just passed over some extremely interesting data revealing evidence of chlorine and potassium in the blazing wisps of Cas A.

Deep in the southern constellation Columba, a spiral galaxy named NGC 1792 shines brighter than most of its size. Even after decades in orbit, NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope has delivered one of its best shots yet of this starry island.

Hubble’s most recent view takes us on a wild voyage into N159, a region in the Large Magellanic Cloud where new stars emerge from vast swirling clouds of gas. This breathtaking image focuses on a small portion of what’s going on, displaying the raw machinery of star formation over a 150-light-year span. It’s located 160,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Dorado, where gravity begins to pull in cold hydrogen gas, paving the way for those stellar nurseries to begin to light up.

Astronomers have long been searching for the faint lights of dying stars, those huge, short-lived fireballs that blaze brightly before fading away into the galaxy’s dark corners. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now given us a look inside one such system, Apep, a trio of stars 8,000 light years away in a long, agonizing waltz. This mid-infrared image is raw and unprocessed, showing four shells of carbon dust spiraling outward in a tangled mess like an unraveled rope.

For years, astronomers have recognized NGC 1068 as a prime example of a spiral galaxy with a secret engine at its core. This barred spiral, located in the constellation Cetus, is roughly 50 million light-years away and measures 100,000 light-years across. Its arms curve out from a bright center bar. A supermassive black hole resides in the core, weighing around 4 million solar masses, or twice the mass of our own Milky Way. That black hole isn’t quiet, as it powers an active galactic core that emits radiation in all directions.

Yi Yang, an assistant professor at Tsinghua University, had barely touched down in San Francisco from a long flight when his phone started blowing up with alerts. A massive star – all 22 million light years away in the galaxy NGC 3621 – was going out in a blaze of glory at the end. What we now know as SN 2024ggi started lighting up on April the 10th, 2024. Within a few hours, Yang was on the phone to the European Southern Observatory, begging them to get a look at it. And by the next day, the ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile is swinging round to get a glimpse of the distant supernova explosion.

NGC 1511, a spiral galaxy located 50 million light-years away in the serene constellation Hydrus, will not remain calm. New Hubble Space Telescope photos reveal a disc practically edge-on, burning blue with millions of newborn stars. The birthplace of new suns is marked by red and pink hydrogen clouds. Dark ribbons of dust cross the face, obstructing light and heightening the already tense situation.

High up in the sky above the Earth, NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been turned on NGC 4102 – a galaxy that isn’t one for loud and flashy displays. Perched 56 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major (Great Bear), this is a spiral galaxy that looks like its been caught mid-spin, with the music still playing, but paused.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has pulled off a spooky gift for Halloween . A star is on its last legs in the constellation Sagittarius – thousands of light years away. Stars like our Sun follow a rather predictable path. They burn hydrogen for billions of years before eventually running out of steam. As the outer layers expand, the center begins to contract.