Skip Navigation
menu close modal
Resources

NASA's Swift Spies Comet Lulin

A bright ball of white light is surrounded by a halo of purple and pink. The purple appears in a circle around the white light while the pink is offset to the left and below the central white ball. This is all on a black background dotted with blue stars.
Credit: NASA/Swift/Univ. of Leicester/Bodewits et al.
Published: February 20, 2009

This image of Comet Lulin, taken Jan. 28, 2009, merges data acquired by NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (blue and green) and X-Ray Telescope (red). At the time of the observation, the comet was 99.5 million miles from Earth and 115.3 million miles from the Sun.

More information: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/lulin.html

ENLARGE

Explore the Universe

Related

This image from NASA's Spitzer shows the Cat's Paw Nebula.
More
This image shows a starry background bathed in green clouds. At the center is a bright region of yellow and red clouds with two smaller circles of red, taken together these red regions resemble a cat’s footprint.
Cat's Paw Nebula
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)
¡Esta fuerza escalofriante te dejará temblando de terror!
More
Este póster muestra un murciélago verde siniestro que emerge del cosmos, empujando objetos como galaxias y estrellas hacia el vacío del espacio exterior.
Energía oscura – "Galaxy of Horrors" póster (En Español)
This image of supernova remnant RCW 86 combines data from NASA's Chandra, WISE, and Spitzer as well as ESA's XMM-Newton.
More
This starry background has red clouds scattered across the image. There’s a wide arc of blue, white and green at the bottom right of the image, and a thin arc running over the left and top of the image. Together these arcs almost form a circle.
Supernova Remnant RCW 86
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
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
AU Microscopii is one of the youngest planetary systems ever observed, and its star throws vicious temper tantrums!
More
Giant flares from a giant, bright young star in oranges, reds and bright yellow burst from the star, affecting a nearby planet. You can see the planet’s atmosphere being blasted away by the energy.
Flares of Fury – "Galaxy of Horrors" poster (English)
Algo extraño y misterioso se arrastra por el cosmos. Los científicos lo llaman materia oscura.
More
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)
Hubble Space Telescope’s crisp view of Saturn shows multiple banded cloud activity warmed increasingly by direct sunlight.
More
The ringed planet Saturn is seen on a stark black background. The round planet has bands of pale yellow, tan, and brown that appear as stripes across its surface, with the brightest and broadest band around the center of the planet and varying sizes of bands moving up to the top. Encircling the planet is a system of rings which are seen in front of the planet with part of the rings hidden behind the back. The rings also have bands of color ranging from pale blue to white and dusty tan with a few black areas showing gaps between the rings.
Hubble Sees Summertime on Saturn
This illustration explains the weak 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: "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
This image of the whole sky shows 22 months of data recorded by NASA's NICER mission aboard the International Space Station.
More
On a black background are a network of orange filaments connecting a number of bright spots. The bright spots indicate places where the filaments cross, and are sources in the sky where NICER often points its telescope. The swirling loops between those points reveal the path NICER’s telescope takes between these sources.
NICER's Night Moves Trace the X-ray Sky
The Webb telescope captured this composite image of Jupiter.
More
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
This image shows the magnetic field of our Milky Way galaxy as seen by the Planck satellite.
More
This oval image represents a view of the entire sky unfolded and laid out flat. Across the middle is a line of dark brown, with a swirl of brown around the center of the image. At the edges the line of brown becomes wider and more diffuse. These lines and swirls of brown are embedded in an off-white mottled background. Throughout the image are lines running generally parallel to the central bar of brown, but with some wave-like deviations above and below it. Some of the oval on the top and near the bottom is just a flat tan color, which represents places where there is no magnetic field information.
Planck Takes Magnetic Fingerprint of Our Galaxy
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
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 visualization shows gamma rays detected by NASA's Fermi during a flare from galaxy 3C 279.
More
This GIF shows a representation of a gamma-ray flare from an active galaxy. Throughout the animation, circles appear that then expand like raindrops on water in varying sizes and shades of magenta. The smaller circles with lighter colors represent lower energy gamma rays, and the larger circles with darker colors are higher energy gamma rays. The animation starts with just a few of these drops across the image, with the density increasing and more large drops appearing in the center of the image toward the end, until the image is nearly filled with the expanding circles.
Fermi Spots Record Flare from Blazar 3C 279
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 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 image captured by NASA's SOFIA shows narrow structures channeling material into the Serpens South star cluster.
More
This view of a starry sky is bathed in red cloud-like structures. There is a bright grouping of stars just above and to the left of center in the image. These stars are bright white with large diffraction spikes, long lines like an asterisk over each star. The background changes to an electric green behind the concentration of stars. Lines in the image show where magnetic fields run. They run left to right over the main grouping of stars, but gradually change to be tilted from bottom left up to the right just below the grouping of stars.
Magnetic ‘Rivers' Feed Young Stars
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
NASA’s Webb has peered into the chaos of the Cartwheel Galaxy.
More
A large pink, speckled galaxy resembling a wheel with a small, inner oval, with dusty blue in between on the right. Two smaller spiral galaxies about the same size are to the left, all against a black background.
Webb Captures the Cartwheel Galaxy
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 mosaic of NASA's Swift is created from images of astronomical objects captured by the satellite.
More
When taking this image as a whole, it looks like the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a telescope with a central cylindrical body and solar panels on either side. Upon closer inspection, though, the image is made from small individual images of different astronomical objects that were taken by the telescope.
Swift Millionth Image Mosaic
An image from NASA’s Chandra shows the location of several elements produced by the explosion of Cassiopeia A.
More
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
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

Explore the Universe

Related News

Researchers observing with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed silicate cloud features in a distant planet’s atmosphere.
More
NASA's Webb Spots Swirling, Gritty Clouds on Remote Planet
NASA's Webb Spots Swirling, Gritty Clouds on Remote Planet
UGCA 307 hangs against an irregular backdrop of distant galaxies in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
More
Hubble Sees a Diminutive Dwarf Galaxy
Hubble Sees a Diminutive Dwarf Galaxy
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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