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This illustration explains the weak force, one of the four fundamental forces in the universe.
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This infographic is done mostly in shades of blue. At the top left is the title: "Weak Force." Below that is a block of text that reads: "The weak force can change a quark from one type to another: from up to down. That change could turn a proton into a neutron or vice versa. This process would also produce a neutrino and an electron or anti-electron through a process called beta decay." Below and to the right of the text is an illustration of a blue proton and a red neutron with pop outs. The proton is on the left. Its pop out shows a cluster of two yellow up quarks and one pink down quark. An arrow is pointing to one of the up quarks. The pop up for the neutron shows a cluster of two pink down quarks and one yellow up quark. An arrow points to one of the down quarks, indicating that it flipped from an up quark, which changed the proton into a neutron.
Weak Force
The blue dots in this field of galaxies were detected by NASA's NuSTAR.
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On a field of black there are small yellow and red dots spread across the image. About a dozen larger, blue dots are scattered amongst the smaller, paler sources.
A Black Hole 'Choir'
NASA's Spitzer captured this mosaic image of the Cepheus C and Cepheus B regions in the constellation Cepheus.
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Two cloudy nebula appear in this image, each in shades of green, yellow and red. One appears to blast across the image from the lower left just about to the top of the image just the right of center. At the top end the nebua had a bright white spot with a red halo, and trailing behind to the lower left of the image is a semi-transparent green cloud looking like a dress trailing behind. Taking up the lower right portion of the image is a compact green bundle of clouds, with just a thin strip of black sky between the two nebulae.
Cepheus C & Cepheus B
NASA's Swift imaged rings of X-ray light centered on V404 Cygni, a binary system containing an erupting black hole.
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This animated GIF shows rings of X-rays, shown in red, that expand away from a central white dot, like a bullseye target.
X-ray Echoes Create Black Hole Bull's-eye
An image from NASA’s Chandra shows the location of several elements produced by the explosion of Cassiopeia A.
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In the center of a black background is a large circular object outlined by electric blue filaments that jolt and weave throughout the structure. The object, which is the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, includes strings of vibrant colors including purple, orange, yellow and blue.
Chandra Reveals Elementary Nature of Cassiopeia A
This composite image of the Crab Nebula uses data from NASA's Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer missions.
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The image is dominated by the X-ray emission from the Crab nebula, shown in shades of blue and white. At the center is a bright ball surrounded by an oval of light whose long axis is tilted just to the left. Rising up and to the right from that oval is a cloud of material that looks like a witch’s hat with a broad brim and dented point. From the central ball there is also a bent stream of material to the left and downward. The optical light, in purple, appears as a background to the blue and white as a wispy cloud. The infrared emission, shown in pink, surrounds the blue and white light, looking like a diffuse web.
NASA Missions Study the Crab Nebula
Our Milky Way galaxy is ablaze with dust in this all-sky map from Planck.
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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.
Polarized Dust Lights Up Milky Way
This image of the Neptune system, captured by NASA's Webb, reveals stunning views of the planet’s rings.
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Neptune as seen by the Webb telescope, shimmering and opalescent against a black sky, with whitish rings.
Webb Captures Clear View of Neptune's Rings
This illustration explains the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces in the universe.
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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 bone-chilling force will leave you shivering alone in terror!
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This poster pictures an ominous, green bat that emerges from the cosmos, pushing objects like galaxies and stars further apart into the void of outer space.
Dark Energy – "Galaxy of Horrors" poster (English)
No spaceship will shield you from the blinding destruction of the gamma ray ghouls!
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Two astronauts are standing on an asteroid, watching a pair of neutron stars, or the cores of collapsed stars, collide in the distance. The result of the collision is bright, concentrated beams of light called gamma rays. The gamma ray bursts narrowly miss the astronauts as they shoot outward from the collision.
Gamma Ray Ghouls – "Galaxy of Horrors" poster (English)
This illustration explains the gravitational force, one of the four fundamental forces in the universe.
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This infographic is done mostly in shades of blue. At the top left is the title: "Gravitational Force." Below that is a block of text that reads: "Gravity, the force that draws objects together, can be understood as bends and curves in the fabric of space-time. Anything with mass makes these dents, from the Earth and Moon to turtles and cats." Below the text, taking up most of the image, is an illustration of Earth and the Moon which is on top of an oval that contains concentric rings outlined in orange representing the fabric of space-time. Directly beneath Earth and the Moon are dips in space-time.
Gravitational Force
NASA's SOFIA detected the magnetic field streamlines shown in this ESO image of the Keyhole Nebula.
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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 Spitzer captured this image of nearby galaxy Messier 81 for its 16th anniversary.
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M81 is a grand spiral galaxy, and in this image its arms appear as green vines twisting inward toward a central bright spot. Embedded in those arms are spots of yellow and orange light. All of this is on a background dotted with red and blue pinpricks of light.
An Infrared View of the M81 Galaxy
Something strange and mysterious creeps throughout the cosmos. Scientists call it dark matter.
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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 Webb captured this image of the star-forming region NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula.
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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
Este planeta lejano puede parecer un refugio amigable… ¡pero no te dejes engañar! ¡El clima en este mundo es mortal!
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Este planeta lejano puede parecer un refugio amigable… ¡pero no te dejes engañar! ¡El clima en este mundo es mortal! ¡El color azul cobalto del planeta proviene de una atmósfera brumosa e incendiaria que contiene nubes de cristales de vidrio! ¡Sus vientos aulladores envían las tormentas de vidrio a 5,400 MPH (2 km / s), azotando todo a su paso en una espiral espeluznante alrededor del planeta! ¡Es la muerte por un millón de cortes en este planeta slasher!
Lluvia de Terror – "Galaxy of Horrors" póster (En Español)
NASA's WISE captured this image of the Andromeda galaxy, also called Messier 31 or M31.
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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
Algo extraño y misterioso se arrastra por el cosmos. Los científicos lo llaman materia oscura.
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Una red luminosa es visible en el cielo nocturno más allá del límite de un bosque. Dispersa entre los nodos de la red está la oscuridad, que denota la presencia de materia oscura. En el centro de la telaraña, la oscuridad se funde para crear la forma de una araña.
Materia Oscura – "Galaxy of Horrors" póster (En Español)
The Webb telescope captured this composite image of Jupiter.
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Jupiter dominates the black background of space. The planet is striated with swirling horizontal stripes of neon turquoise, periwinkle, light pink, and cream. The stripes interact and mix at their edges like cream in coffee. Along both of the poles, the planet glows in turquoise. Bright orange auroras glow just above the planet’s surface at both poles.
Webb Peeks Into Jupiter's Inner Life
A NASA Chandra panorama provides an X-ray view above and below the center of the Milky Way.
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This vertical panoramic image depicts an area about the center of the Milky Way, with the field of view extending 1000 light years above and below the galaxy. The image resembles colorful gas clouds streaked with fine threads, dotted with a handful of brilliant white shapes. Throughout the image are tiny orange and purple dots set against a black backdrop. Across the center of the image is a horizontal, bright purple cloud with a glowing white core. This is the plane of the Milky Way, the disk where most of the Galaxy's stars reside. Below the plane of the Milky Way, near our lower left, is a bright, brick orange cloud. Above the plane, to our upper right, is a thin lilac cloud with some orange mist on the left. The orange cloud and mist are large plumes of hot gas. The colors represent different X-ray energies observed by Chandra. Even brighter than the glowing white core in the Milky Way are the brilliant white shapes that appear throughout the image. Two can be found to the right of the core, and two below the galaxy's plane. These are X-rays reflected from dust around bright X-ray sources.
Galactic Center Panorama in X-ray and Radio
The history of the universe is outlined in this illustration. 
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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 image shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching with NASA's IXPE onboard.
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Against a dark background, a rocket launches. Visible is a nest of clouds on the ground with a bright plume of fire rising up to the top of the image. A structure is silhouetted to the left of the plume, and a water tower is visible just to the right.
IXPE Launches to Explore the Secrets of the Universe
This is a mosaic the entire sky as observed by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
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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
Explore this infographic to learn more about SuperTIGER, cosmic rays, and scientific ballooning.
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This infographic shows many factoids about the SuperTIGER balloon mission. The poster has the header: “SuperTIGER Catching heavy cosmic rays.” There is a cut-out line drawing of the SuperTIGER payload as if it was dangling from a balloon. Near this is the text, “SuperTIGER is a souped-up version of the Trans-Iron Galactice Element Recorder (TIGER) detector that flew in 1997, 2001, and 2003.” next to that are a series of representations of cosmic rays from an electron (1% of cosmic rays), hydrogen (90%), helium (8%), and heavier nuclei (1%). Next to that is a periodic table of the elements with the elements from neon (atomic #10) to barium (atomic #56) highlighted. This is accompanied by the text, “Cosmic rays are particles from far outside the solar system traveling at up to nearly the speed of light. SuperTIGER seeks heavy atomic nuclei ranging from neon to barium.” Just below the cosmic ray particles and periodic table is a silhouette of a van accompanying the text, “SuperTIGER and its supporting hardware weighs 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms), comparable to a full-size van.” A drawing of Antarctica with arrows encircling the continent in a counterclockwise direction is accompanied by the text, “SuperTIGER launches from McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and can float for weeks. Circular winds aloft confine it to the continent.” Just below these items there is a depiction of the balloon at launch, taking up about two-thirds the height of the poster. The line drawing of the balloon at launch includes the inflated portion of the balloon, which is just a small upside down tear-drop at the top, the recovery parachute, and the SuperTIGER payload. With this is the text, “Balloon at launch, 856 feet (261 meters) tall.” The balloon stands next to a line drawing of the Washington Monument, which stands 555 feet (169 meters) tall. Next to this is a depiction of the balloon in flight, with the balloon fully inflated from the top down to the recovery parachute. The text says: “Balloon at altitude, 460 feet (140 meters) across.” Next to the payload drawing is the text, “SuperTIGER reaches a maximum height of about 127,000 feet (39,000 meters).” Near this is a drawing of a commercial jet and the text, “That’s nearly four times the typical cruising altitude of commercial airliners and above 99.5 percent of the atmosphere.”
SuperTIGER Infographic

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