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The Milky Way, Other Galaxies and Nebulae
 The Pleiades star cluster in the constellation Taurus, courtesy of Hale Observatories, (first examined through the telescope by Galileo). The spectra of the blue nebulosity is the same as that of the nearby stars. About 400 light-years away, the brighter stars were named by the ancient Greeks after the daughters of Atlas, the Titan who held the heavens up. |
 The Large Magellanic Cloud is a small, irregular satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. As in all galaxies, supernova explosions happen her. An unprecedented burst of X-rays and gamma rays was detected from a small region of the sky corresponding to supernova remnant N49 on March 5, 1979. Found by accident, Voyager 1 had just encountered the Jupiter system. |
 An X-ray photograph of the sky, showing the bright source Cygnus X-1 (center), a probable black hole. An image from High Energy Astrophysical Observatory 2, in Earth orbit. Courtesy Ricardo Giacconi and NASA. |