The best space photos of 2019

December 25, 2019

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A composite image comprised of optical data from the Isaac Newton Telescope and X-ray data from Chandra showing the stellar association Cygnus OB2

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Drake et al; H-alpha: Univ. of Hertfordshire/INT/IPHAS; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Spitzer

The trail of asteroid 2001 SE101 can be seen passing in front of the Crab Nebula, arcing up from the bottom left of the image. This photo was taken way back in 2005, but was only dug up from archival data earlier this year by amateur astronomer Melina Thévenot

ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Thévenot (CC BY 4.0)

A “cosmic candy cane,” 190-light-years tall, can be seen in this composite image of infrared and radio waves coming from the middle of the Milky Way

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Sunlight begins to peek through the Earth’s atmosphere in this early dawn shot from the International Space Station

NASA

This stunning portrait of Jupiter from above is called “A mind of limits, a camera of thoughts.” The raw photo was shot by Juno in September, and processed by citizen scientist Prateek Sarpal

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Processing by Prateek Sarpal, © (CC NC SA)

This crater on Mars has only appeared in the last three years – earlier photos of the region showed it wasn’t there in September 2016. Snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the blue areas in this false-color image represents material thrown up from below the surface

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

This stunning celestial masterpiece is Sharpless 2-296, better known as the Seagull Nebula due to its (apparent) resemblance to the seabird

ESO/VPHAS+ team/N.J. Wright (Keele University)

A timelapse taken from the International Space Station, showing the movements of stars in the sky and city lights on Earth in 400 photos snapped over 11 minutes

NASA

A composite image of supernova Tycho, as seen by Chandra X-ray Observatory, set on a backdrop of stars from the Digitized Sky Survey

X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIKEN & GSFC/T. Sato et al; Optical: DSS

The brightest star in the upper middle of frame is Tau Canis Majoris, shown here with the rest of its cluster also twinkling beautifully

ESO

The globular cluster Messier 75 is one of the most photogenic regions in space, as made clear in this recent Hubble photo

ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Ferraro et al

The launch of the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, as captured from the International Space Station where it was headed

NASA/Christina Koch

A composite image of the Sun. The flow of its magnetic field can be seen in ultraviolet light around the outside, showing stronger flows from the north and south poles, and large, relatively weaker areas from the east and west. A visible light image of the Sun itself is superimposed over the top

ESO/P. Horálek/SOHO (NASA&ESA)/SDO (NASA)

This strangely-colored image from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field project is the telescope's deepest look into the universe yet, made possible by recovering "lost light"

A. S. Borlaff et al.

Two galaxies collide, creating what looks like a spooky face in the cosmos

NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and M. Durbin (University of Washington)

The first direct image of a black hole, as produced by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration

EHT Collaboration

The Kuiper belt object named Arrokoth, which looks like a reddish snowman

NASA

The Milky Way's central region as seen by the Very Large Telescope equipped with the HAWK-I instrument

ESO/Nogueras-Lara et al.

A huge mosaic image of the Triangulum Galaxy, comprising 665 million pixels

NASA, ESA, and M. Durbin, J. Dalcanton, and B. F. Williams (University of Washington)

A new portrait of Saturn, captured by the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope in June, when the planet was at its closest to Earth

NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)

The galaxy NGC 4485 appears normal on the left side, but on the right it bears the stunning scars of a close encounter with another galaxy, in the form of a new star forming region

NASA and ESA; T. Roberts (Durham University, UK), D. Calzetti (University of Massachusetts) and the LEGUS Team, R. Tully (University of Hawaii), and R. Chandar (University of Toledo)

The Hubble Legacy Field contains over 265,000 galaxies

NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth and D. Magee (University of California, Santa Cruz), K. Whitaker (University of Connecticut), R. Bouwens (Leiden University), P. Oesch (University of Geneva,) and the Hubble Legacy Field team

A composite image comprised of optical data from the Isaac Newton Telescope and X-ray data from Chandra showing the stellar association Cygnus OB2

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Drake et al; H-alpha: Univ. of Hertfordshire/INT/IPHAS; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Spitzer

View gallery - 22 images

The cosmic beauty of space never ceases to impress, so it’s not surprising that so many photographers and astronomers are constantly watching the skies. New Atlas rounds up some of the most incredible space photos of 2019, including historic firsts, stunning starscapes, gorgeous galaxies and some new angles on our own solar system.

The world’s space agencies wasted absolutely no time this year – the first notable space event of 2019 happened on New Year’s Day, when the New Horizons probe whizzed past the Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69, then-nicknamed Ultima Thule and now officially called Arrokoth. About a billion miles beyond Pluto, this is the most distant flyby ever conducted by a human spacecraft.

The Kuiper Belt object known as Arrokoth

NASA

Passing within just 4,100 mi (6,600 km) of Arrokoth, New Horizons returned some amazingly close-up shots of this bizarre little world over the following weeks. The mission revealed that the object was a Mars-like red color and strangely snowman-shaped, tumbling end over end on the fringe of the solar system.

Another historic first in space photography followed in April. An international team of over 20 astronomers managed to snap the first-ever direct image of a black hole. Of course, seeing the blackest object possible is no easy feat – it took a network of observatories coming together to form a virtual telescope the size of planet Earth.

The first direct image of a black hole, as produced by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration

EHT Collaboration

The Event Horizon Telescope, as it’s known, was designed for the singular purpose of snapping this shot. The black hole itself lies at the center of the galaxy M87, and can only be seen here as a silhouette against the brighter backdrop of hot gas falling into the object.

The globular cluster Messier 75 is one of the most photogenic regions in space, as made clear in this recent Hubble photo.

ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Ferraro et al

Not every image needs to make history to be beautiful. Hubble was busy as always this year, snapping some truly mesmerizing images such as this one of Messier 75. This is a globular cluster, made up of gravitationally-bound stars orbiting together through the outer suburbs of a galaxy. Messier 75 is one of the most densely populated globular clusters, so it’s a popular choice for astronomical photographers.

These are just a few of our favorite space photos of 2019. Check out the rest in the gallery!

View gallery - 22 images

The best space photos of 2019

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