Skip Navigation
menu close modal
Resources

Polarized Dust Lights Up Milky Way

This oval image represents a view of the entire sky unfolded and laid out flat. Across the middle of the image is a bright yellow line, which is light that was emitted by dust in the plane of the Milky Way. There are additional swirls and loops arising from that line of yellow, making the sky look like it is filled with flames.
Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech
Published: February 4, 2015

Our Milky Way galaxy is ablaze with dust in this all-sky map from Planck, an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with important NASA contributions. The towers of fiery colors are actually dust in the galaxy and beyond that has been polarized. The data show light of 353 gigahertz or 0.85-millimeter wavelengths, which is longer than what we see with our eyes.

More information: https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/planck/pia18915

ENLARGE

Explore the Universe

Related

This far-off blue planet may look like a friendly haven – but don’t be deceived! Weather here is deadly.
More
A poster done in the style of a vintage poster for a horror movie. Reading "Rains of Terror," it's death by a million cuts on this slasher planet. Jagged edges of glass can be seen battering a spacecraft on this alien world.
Rains of Terror – "Galaxy of Horrors" poster (English)
This composite image of the nebula RCW 120 was captured by NASA's Spitzer and SOFIA missions.
More
A faint ring of gray clouds breaks at the top, looking like horns extending upward. Inside the left side and lower part of the gray ring is a thick blue cloud. A ribbon of red overlaps part of the blue cloud on the left side, but also extends just outside the gray clouds. All of this is on a black background dotted with star light.
RCW 120
This illustration explains the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces in the universe.
More
This infographic is done mostly in shades of blue. At the top left is the title: "Electromagnetic Force." Below that is a block of text that reads: "The electromagnetic force holds together objects with opposite electrical charges, like the proton and electron that make up one hydrogen atom." Below and to the right of the text is an illustration of a hydrogen atom. A blue circle representing a proton sits in the middle of a larger, transparent white circle. A yellow electron is orbiting the proton, illustrated by a streak of yellow trailing the proton across the top of the white circle.
Electromagnetic Force
This chillingly haunted galaxy became a cosmic cemetery only a few billion years after the big bang!
More
A scarlet star looms behind the ruins of an exoplanet that resembles the shape of a skull. A red galaxy arm is visible in the background. It is apparent that this galaxy, named MACS 2129-1, has been decaying since it stopped producing stars only a few billion years after the big bang.
Galactic Graveyard – "Galaxy of Horrors" poster (English)
NASA's Swift imaged the extremely luminous afterglow of explosion GRB 080319B.
More
The image has two views of the same portion of sky. On the left, the X-ray light is shown in yellows and oranges like a bright ball of fire on a black background. On the right is the optical view with several balls of white light showing a starry background. In the center of the image is one of the balls of light but surrounded by an orange and green halo.
A Stellar Explosion You Could See on Earth
AU Microscopii se encuentra entre los sistemas planetarios más jóvenes jamás observados por los astrónomos, ¡y su estrella tiene unas brutales rabietas!
More
Ubicado a menos de 32 años luz de la Tierra, AU Microscopii se encuentra entre los sistemas planetarios más jóvenes jamás observados por los astrónomos, ¡y su estrella tiene unas brutales rabietas! ¿Has oído hablar de los "terribles dos años"? Pues AU Mic está en medio de sus terribles 22… ¡millones de años! Este sistema joven diabólico mantiene cautivo a su planeta, AU Mic b, dentro de un disco de polvo fantasmal y lo atormenta incesantemente con explosiones mortales de rayos X y otras radiaciones, frustrando cualquier posibilidad de vida ... ¡tal como la conocemos! ¡Cuidado! No hay escapatoria a la furia estelar de este sistema. Las llamaradas monstruosas de AU Mic te harán rogar por la oscuridad eterna.
Llamaradas de Furia – "Galaxy of Horrors" póster (En Español)
NASA's Webb captured this image of the star-forming region NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula.
More
The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which, have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.
Webb Reveals the Carina Nebula
NASA's SOFIA detected the magnetic field streamlines shown in this ESO image of the Keyhole Nebula.
More
The nebula appears as a swirl of magenta and purple clouds in a shape roughly like a human heart. The central part of the nebula has a bright magenta oval surrounded by white and pale purple. Through this central region there are lines overlaid on the image showing where SOFIA has obtained information about the magnetic fields. The lines run from the left down through the lower part of the magenta oval. Some of the bundle of lines loop up and over the magenta center, all meeting toward the middle of the image. All of this is on a black background dotted with white lights.
Keyhole Nebula
NASA's WISE captured this image of the Andromeda galaxy, also called Messier 31 or M31.
More
M31 is a spiral galaxy seen in this image against a black sky speckled with blue points of light. It appears like a flying disk toy seen tilted up and to the left, with a bright orange circle of light and tendrils of orange and pale blue light swirling in toward a central bright, white spot.
WISE Studies Our Neighbor Andromeda
This illustration explains the strong force, one of the four fundamental forces in the universe.
More
This infographic is done mostly in shades of blue. At the top left is the title: "Strong Force." Below that is a block of text that reads: "The strong force holds together things that have the same charge. It's stronger than the electromagnetic force, so that's why atoms with multiple protons and neutrons don't fly apart. But most importantly, it holds together the quarks that make up protons and neutrons themselves. Each proton contains two up quarks and one down. Each neutron contains two down quarks and one up." Below and to the right of the text is an illustration of an atomic nucleus made of two blue protons and two red neutrons. To the left is a pop out that points back to one of the neutrons. This pop out shows a cluster of one yellow up quark and two pink down quarks. Dual directional arrows connect each quark to the other two. To the left of the nuclei is a pop out that points back to one of the protons. This pop out shows a cluster of two yellow quarks and one pink down quark. Dual directional arrows connect each quark to the other two.
Strong Force
Something strange and mysterious creeps throughout the cosmos. Scientists call it dark matter.
More
A luminous web is visible in the night sky beyond a treeline. Scattered between the nodes of the web is darkness, signifying the presence of dark matter. In the center of the web, the darkness melds to form the shape of a spider.
Dark Matter – "Galaxy of Horrors" poster (English)
NASA's Spitzer satellite reveals infrared light from the star-forming nebula W51 in this image.
More
The nebula appears in shades of green, red, and yellow on a black starry background. The green swirls across the entire image with a large knot of red just to the right of center. Embedded in the green swirls are a few bright white and deep red spots that look like bubbles within the green clouds.
Star Factory W51
This is a mosaic the entire sky as observed by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
More
The image is an oval, which represents the sky folded out onto a flat surface. There is an electric blue, fuzzy light running left to right in the center of the image, showing emission from the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. About half way between the center of the image and the left edge, that blue line turns green and expands out into diffuse clouds. That blue line similarly expands into diffuse green clouds on the right side, too. Most of the rest of the image appears black with just a few spots of dim green clouds dotted around the image.
The WISE Infrared Sky
This photo shows 18 of Roman's detectors mounted in an engineering test unit of the mission's focal plane array. 
More
At the center of the photo is a set of 18 square detectors on a gold platform. They're arranged in six columns of three detectors such that the top of the middle two columns are close to the top of the image, the next two columns are a little lower down, and the two outer columns are even lower. The detectors are different shades of blue from royal blue to teal.
NASA Roman's Heat-Vision ‘Eyes'
In this photo, NICER’s X-ray concentrator optics are inspected under a black light for dust and foreign object debris.
More
Taking up the center of the photo is one of NICER’s X-ray concentrators which is formed from concentric cylindrical mirrors that look like a vinyl record with very deep grooves. On top of the concentrator is a metal structure with a hexagonal plate in the center that has thin bars extending from each of the six corners, looking like a spiderweb. This one concentrator is surrounded by five others, which are only partially seen. Along the top quarter of the image is a clear window that reflects rectangular light and has a series of small holds in a grid across the bottom edge. Some parts of the central concentrator and the one to the upper right of it are bathed in purple light.
Close-up View of NICER's X-Ray Optics
This NASA NuSTAR image reveals high-energy X-rays from radioactive material in Cassiopeia A.
More
This image of X-ray light from a supernova remnant shows a nearly-circular mess of colors representing different wavelengths of X-ray light. Near the center is a blotchy patch of electric blue light. Surrounding and interweaving with that are wisps of yellow, orange and red. A plume of green juts out on the left side of the blast, with green edging around the orange light on the top and bottom of the blast. And a faint ring of pale yellow light surrounds the main ball of color.
Untangling the Remains of Cassiopeia A
A real monster black hole is revealed in this image from NASA's NuSTAR and Hubble.
More
Three panels show the same region of sky in different wavelengths of light. On the left is a high-energy X-ray image, which has a bright white spot at the center with a halo of reds and yellows. The halo is brightest on the left side of the white central spot. On the right is the optical light image, which shows two cloudy ovals in shards of white, pale blue and red coming together. Where they meet the image is very bright. Also in the image are a few background spots of light on the black background. In the central image, the X-ray and optical images are shown together, so we see the bright spot where the galaxies come together surrounded by the red X-ray haze.
Tale of Two Black Holes
This image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) features comet 65/P Gunn.
More
Comet 65/P Gunn looks like a match with a flame against a starry background. A thin stripe of red runs from the left side of the image almost to the middle where a bright red and yellow ball flares up with a tail tapering off to the right.
WISE Catches Comet 65-P Gunn
¡Esta galaxia escalofriantemente encantada dejó de crear estrellas, de manera misteriosa, solo unos pocos miles de millones de años tras el big bang!
More
Una estrella escarlata se cierne tras las ruinas de un exoplaneta que se asemeja en su forma a una calavera. Un brazo de galaxia rojo es visible en el fondo. Es evidente que esta galaxia, llamada MACS 2129-1, ha estado deteriorándose desde que dejó de producir estrellas solo unos pocos miles de millones de años después del Big Bang.
Cementerio Galáctico – "Galaxy of Horrors" póster (En Español)
Composite image of the Swan Nebula with data from NASA's SOFIA, Herschel Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope.
More
Against a starry background sits a nebula that resembles the neck and head of a swan who is looking to the left. The cloudy nebula is a dark red on the edges that would be the right side of the swan’s neck and top of its head. This fades into a pale yellow on the left side of the swan’s neck and the bottom of the head and beak. Inside the crook of the neck there is a semi-transparent blue cloud. All of this is on a black, starry background.
Swan Nebula
These images show the steadily improving view of the Moon’s gamma-ray glow from NASA’s Fermi.
More
The image is broken up into a grid of eight panels. The first panel has text that reads: “Fermi Images the Moon. These images show the Fermi mission’s improving view of the Moon’s gamma-ray glow. Brighter colors correspond to greater numbers of gamma rays above 31 million electron volts, tens of millions of times the energy of visible light. At these energies, the Moon is actually brighter than the Sun. The glow comes from cosmic rays, particles that constantly bombard the lunar surface. The Moon has no magnetic field, which would screen out lower-energy particles. So instead they strike and interact with the surface, which produces gamma rays. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration.” The first panel also includes a visible-light image of the Moon, which is small in the center of the panel. The subsequent panels are labeled 2 months, 4 months, 8 months, 16 months, 32 months, 64 months, and 128 months. Each shows a bright yellow region in the middle surrounded by a haze of orange that fades into light red at the edges of the image. The first image is extremely pixelated, with the the central circle coming into more focus with each subsequent image.
Fermi Sees the Moon in Gamma Rays
The history of the universe is outlined in this illustration. 
More
This infographic is done in shades of blue and white. At the top left is the title: “History of the Universe.” Below that is a cone with graphics representing different stages of cosmic history within eight evenly spaced ovals. Below the cone is text connected to each oval indicating time since the beginning of the universe, the name of the cosmic era, and a brief description. The first oval on the left is filled with blobs, and the associated text reads: 10 to the negative 32 seconds, Inflation, and Initial expansion. Moving right, the next oval is filled with light (represented as squiggles), protons, and neutrons. The text below reads: one microsecond; first particles; and neutrons, protons, and electrons form. The next oval is filled with light (squiggles) and atomic nuclei. The text below reads: three minutes; first nuclei; and helium and hydrogen form. The next oval is filled with light (squiggles) and atoms. The text below reads: 380,000 years; first light; and the first atoms form. The next oval is filled with transparent areas of blue representing gas with a few dots representing stars. The text below reads: 200 million years; first stars; and gas and dust condense into stars. The next oval is filled with tightly packed galaxies with some transparent areas representing gas. The text below reads: 400 million years; galaxies and dark matter; and galaxies form in dark matter cradles. The next oval is filled with galaxies that have moved apart with stars in between. The text below reads: 10 billion years; dark energy; and expansion accelerates. The last oval is filled with galaxies that have moved far apart with stars in between. The text below reads: 13.8 billion years; today; and humans observe the universe.
History of the Universe
This festive portrait of our Milky Way galaxy comes from ESA's Planck mission.
More
This oval image represents a view of the entire sky unfolded and laid out flat. Running horizontally across the middle of the oval is a bright line of white, which is light emitted by gas and dust in the plane of the Milky Way. Mottled red fills the oval with a few areas of yellow, especially along the plane of the Milky Way and extending above and below it. Over all of this, in the center, is a thick ring of blue.
A Milky Way 'Mixer' Amongst the Stars
NASA's Swift viewed our neighboring galaxy Andromeda in ultraviolet light.
More
A patchy cool-blue ring of light surrounds the bright center of the M31 galaxy. The image is dotted with purple, blue and white stars.
Swift's UV Portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy
¡Esta fuerza escalofriante te dejará temblando de terror!
More
Un agujero negro con un disco de material a su alrededor consume y estira las palabras del título encima de él.
Devorado por la Gravedad – "Galaxy of Horrors" póster (En Español)

Explore the Universe

Related News

The Large Area Telescope aboard NASA’s Fermi satellite can give us a glimpse of an otherwise invisible cosmic light show.
More
NASA's Fermi Captures Dynamic Gamma-Ray Sky in New Animation
NASA's Fermi Captures Dynamic Gamma-Ray Sky in New Animation
The rare sight of a Wolf-Rayet star was one of the first observations made by NASA’s Webb in June 2022.
More
NASA's Webb Telescope Captures Rarely Seen Prelude to Supernova
NASA's Webb Telescope Captures Rarely Seen Prelude to Supernova
The irregular spiral galaxy NGC 5486 hangs against a background of dim, distant galaxies in this Hubble image.
More
Hubble Spots a Star-Forming Spiral
Hubble Spots a Star-Forming Spiral
Scientists created a gargantuan synthetic survey showing what we can expect from the Roman Space Telescope’s future observations.
More
Millions of Galaxies Emerge in New Simulated Images From NASA's Roman
Millions of Galaxies Emerge in New Simulated Images From NASA's Roman
This image features a galaxy called 3C 297 that is lonelier than expected after it likely pulled in and absorbed its former companion galaxies.
More
Chandra Helps Astronomers Discover a Surprisingly Lonely Galaxy
Chandra Helps Astronomers Discover a Surprisingly Lonely Galaxy
A “jellyfish galaxy” with trailing tentacles of stars hangs in inky blackness in this Hubble image.
More
Hubble Peers at a Galactic Seascape
Hubble Peers at a Galactic Seascape
A new simulation shows how NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will unveil the evolving universe in ways that have never been possible before.
More
How NASA's Roman Space Telescope Will Rewind the Universe
How NASA's Roman Space Telescope Will Rewind the Universe
NASA's Hubble captured photos of asteroid Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by a spacecraft called DART in September 2022.
More
Hubble Captures Movie of DART Asteroid Impact Debris
Hubble Captures Movie of DART Asteroid Impact Debris
A massive galaxy cluster in the constellation Cetus dominates the center of this Hubble image.
More
Hubble Observes Cosmic Contortions
Hubble Observes Cosmic Contortions
A new study using Chandra X-ray Observatory has tracked two pairs of supermassive black holes in dwarf galaxies.
More
NASA's Chandra Discovers Giant Black Holes on Collision Course
NASA's Chandra Discovers Giant Black Holes on Collision Course
NASA will launch Israel’s first space telescope, the Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite (ULTRASAT).
More
NASA to Launch Israel's First Space Telescope
NASA to Launch Israel's First Space Telescope
A spectacular trio of merging galaxies in the constellation Boötes takes center stage in this Hubble image.
More
Hubble Views a Merging Galactic Trio
Hubble Views a Merging Galactic Trio
Astronomers revealed a deep field image from NASA’s Webb featuring never-before-seen details in a region of space known as Pandora’s Cluster.
More
NASA's Webb Uncovers New Details in Pandora's Cluster
NASA's Webb Uncovers New Details in Pandora's Cluster
Right in the middle of this image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, lies the newly discovered dwarf galaxy known as Donatiello II.
More
Hubble Spots an Elusive Galaxy
Hubble Spots an Elusive Galaxy
Some of the hottest spots in the Sun’s atmosphere appear in the telescope’s X-ray view.
More
NASA's NuSTAR Telescope Reveals Hidden Light Shows on the Sun
NASA's NuSTAR Telescope Reveals Hidden Light Shows on the Sun
New Hubble images of Saturn herald the start of the planet's "spoke season," when enigmatic features appear across its rings.
More
Hubble Captures the Start of a New Spoke Season at Saturn
Hubble Captures the Start of a New Spoke Season at Saturn
Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center finished testing the high-gain antenna for the Roman Space Telescope.
More
High-Gain Antenna for NASA's Roman Mission Clears Environmental Tests
High-Gain Antenna for NASA's Roman Mission Clears Environmental Tests
An asteroid roughly the size of Rome’s Colosseum has been detected by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
More
Webb Detects Extremely Small Main Belt Asteroid
Webb Detects Extremely Small Main Belt Asteroid
A snapshot of the Tarantula Nebula is featured in this image from Hubble.
More
Hubble's New View of the Tarantula Nebula
Hubble's New View of the Tarantula Nebula
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble have for the first time directly measured the mass of a single, isolated white dwarf.
More
For the First Time Hubble Directly Measures Mass of a Lone White Dwarf
For the First Time Hubble Directly Measures Mass of a Lone White Dwarf
The bright variable star V 372 Orionis takes center stage in this Hubble image.
More
Hubble Views a Stellar Duo in Orion Nebula
Hubble Views a Stellar Duo in Orion Nebula
NASA’s Webb team will receive the 2023 John L. “Jack” Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration, a top award from the Space Foundation.
More
NASA's Webb Telescope Receives Top Space Foundation Award
NASA's Webb Telescope Receives Top Space Foundation Award
Astronomers used NASA’s Webb to obtain an inventory of the deepest, coldest ices measured to date in a molecular cloud.
More
Webb Unveils Dark Side of Pre-stellar Ice Chemistry
Webb Unveils Dark Side of Pre-stellar Ice Chemistry
Objects scattered across this image from Hubble include galaxies near and far, Milky Way stars, and a solar system asteroid.
More
Hubble Captures Cosmic Treasure Trove
Hubble Captures Cosmic Treasure Trove
Scientists shared findings and updates from NASA’s Webb at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle.
More
NASA Recaps Webb Telescope Findings From AAS Meeting
NASA Recaps Webb Telescope Findings From AAS Meeting