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Kepler Space Telescope

This illustration shows NASA's Kepler mission in shades of blue. The main body of the spacecraft is cylindrical in shape, with a slanted top and a base that attaches to a structure wrapping around half of the main body of the craft.
Credit: NASA
Published: December 20, 2022

An illustration of NASA's Kepler Space Telescope. The colors depicted in this illustration are for artistic purposes only.

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An illustration showing an irregular galaxy.
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A rounded, boomerang-shaped diffuse purple blob that's darker around the rim with a light, whitish center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Irregular Galaxy (Version Two)
An illustration of NASA’s BurstCube spacecraft.
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A graphic of BurstCube is shown in light and dark shades of blue. The satellite’s body is rectangular, with the long side facing the viewer. Solar panels are attached to the short, left-hand side.
BurstCube
A horizontal oval illustration of a supernova.
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A large horizontal oval shape with stripes of lighter and darker green moves inward to a lighter green oval with waved edges. In the center is a dark green oval that appears like a starburst because of the waved outlines that lay on top. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Supernova (Light Green)
An illustration of ESA's Planck spacecraft.
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This illustration shows ESA's Planck spacecraft in shades of blue. The craft has a circular base topped by a short instrument with an open top and instrument pieces visible inside.
Planck
An illustration showing a purple, side view of a barred spiral galaxy.
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An illustration has an elongated oval in light purple stretching across the center, outlined in light blue. Behind the strip is a diffuse, yellowish cloud of color that fades into a medium, bright purple. All over the image are white speckles, representing stars.
Barred Spiral Galaxy (Side View, Purple)
An illustration of NASA's Hubble spacecraft.
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This Hubble illustration shows the space telescope in shades of blue. A main cylindrical body has an opening with a flap at the top. The spacecraft's main body connects to two sets of two panels jutting out from either side horizontally and two circular objects attached vertically.
Hubble Space Telescope
An illustration of a long gamma-ray burst caused by a collapsing star.
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At the center of a series of nested blue circles is a black dot representing a black hole. A pair of cone-shaped, white jets emerge from either side of the black hole, tilted 45 degrees from vertical. The outermost blue circle has layered scalloped edges.
Long Gamma-Ray Burst From a Collapsing Star
An illustration of NASA's WISE spacecraft.
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This illustration of NASA's WISE mission shows the spacecraft in shades of blue. WISE has a short, multi-sided cylindrical main body that connects to a thinner and longer open cylindrical piece. The craft's main body is attached to a large, flat panel on top.
WISE/NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared survey Explorer)
An illustration of a short gamma-ray burst caused by merging neutron stars.
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At the center of this graphic of a short gamma-ray burst is a black dot representing a black hole. A cloud of debris, represented as a yellow-ish filled-in figure eight is centered on the black hole and tilted 45 degrees to the right. A pair of white-ish, cone-shaped jets are aligned with the figure eight and extend above and below the black holes. Additional debris is represented as a blue oval and a filled-in eternity symbol, both centered on the black hole and tilted 45 degrees to the left.
Short Gamma-Ray Burst From Merging Neutron Stars
An illustration of a planetary nebula.
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In the background is a hazy blue circle, with dark, transparent blue around the edge and lighter/brighter blues leading inward. In front of the blue circle is a blueish-gray object, shaped like a minimal, twisty lemon. Inside of this shape is a central, light yellow, cloudy circle with a bright white spot in the middle. All within the lemon-shaped object, the white spot is surrounded by an oblong oval shape which is overlapped by two large circular shapes and two small circular shapes. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Planetary Nebula (Version One, Blue)
An illustration of NASA's Chandra spacecraft.
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A graphic of Chandra is shown in light and dark blue with a long, cylindrical main body. At the front of this cylinder is a darker circle. Jutting off of the front of the main body are two "wings" of solar arrays.
Chandra X-ray Observatory
 An illustration of ESA's Euclid spacecraft.
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An illustration in multiple shades of blue depicting Euclid. The spacecraft has a cylindrical body with an open top and a flat, square base as well as a flat panel along its back.
Euclid
An illustration of NASA's COBE spacecraft.
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COBE is illustrated in light and dark blues. With two wings made up of three rectangular solar arrays each, the spacecraft's main body is made up of a striped, multi-sided cylinder with an attached cone-shaped structure on top.
COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer)
An illustration of a quasar.
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A graphic shows a tilted disc in the center. A dark, diffuse purple ring lines its outer edge. The dark purple fades inward to a bright purple, light blue, and then lighter until it reaches the center where there is a black spot. From both the top and bottom of the disk's center, an icy light blue beam shoots out.
Quasar
An illustration showing the side of a purple spiral galaxy.
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A horizontal oval is outlined by a diffuse, bright purple surrounding a darker purple outline which fades through lighter and brighter purple colors as it moves inward. The center of the shape is a hazy yellow circle. Cutting across the center of the image is a flattened disc outlined in light blue with a blueish-gray center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Spiral Galaxy (Side View, Purple)
An illustration of JAXA's Hitomi spacecraft.
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This Hitomi illustration shows the space telescope in shades of blue. The main body of the spacecraft is a long octagon with a cylindrical object on the front end. The cylinder has several smaller cylinders extending from it. On the back end of the satellite extends a long pole that ends in an octagonal panel. Solar panels extend to either side of the main body.
Hitomi
An illustration of an orange elliptical galaxy.
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A diffuse oval is outlined by dark orange but gets progressively lighter in rings towards the center, a bright white spot surrounded by a small ring of white haze. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Elliptical Galaxy (Orange)
A vertical oval illustration of a supernova.
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A large vertically-oriented oval shape with rounded waves around the edge, this graphic has a flower-like appearance. Smaller transparent circles with the same wavy edge are layered inward to create an inner starburst shape. The outer rings are a very light green color and they move inward into different light blue colors and finally to a center starburst shape that is a dark blue. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Supernova (Green)
An illustration of a blue spiral galaxy.
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A hazy range of blues with darker blue around the edge makes up the base of this swirling spiral of white lines twirling inward toward a white cloud with a white spot in the center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Spiral Galaxy (Blue)
An illustration of a purple star-forming nebula.
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A large, amorphous blob in a circular shape has layers of transparent, hazy color overlapping. The different layers start with a slight blue and dark purple around the outer rim and move inward to brighter purples. While white dots representing stars speckle the whole image, in the upper left part of this shape is a bright white circular cloud with more pronounced and larger stars grouped together.
Star-forming Nebula (Version Two, Purple)
An illustration of a blue star-forming nebula.
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A large, amorphous blob in a circular shape has layers of transparent, hazy color overlapping. The different layers are a range of transparent blues, some greener shades than others. While white dots representing stars speckle the whole image, in the upper left part of this shape is a bright white circular cloud with more pronounced and larger stars grouped together.
Star-forming Nebula (Version Two, Blue)
An illustration of one of NASA's OAO spacecraft.
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This illustration shows one of NASA's OAO spacecraft in shades of blue. The body of the satellite is an octagon. The telescope opening is embedded at the top of the octagon, which also has a flap that is open. Two-layered solar panels are attached on both sides. Antennae extend from the top and bottom.
OAO (Orbiting Astronomical Observatory)
An illustration of NASA’s CGRO spacecraft.
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A graphic of CGRO is shown in light and dark shades of blue. The body of the spacecraft is rectangular, topped with two circular objects. Solar panels extend to either side, and a long pole with a small satellite dish at the end extends from the front end of the spacecraft.
CGRO (Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory)
An illustration showing an irregular galaxy.
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An amorphous, diffuse purple blob that's darker around the rim with a light, whitish center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Irregular Galaxy (Version One)
An illustration of a purple spiral galaxy.
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A hazy range of purples makes up the base of this swirling spiral of light blue lines twirling inward toward a yellow cloud with a white spot in the center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Spiral Galaxy (Purple)

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