To me, space is extraordinary and incredible. The amount of information we know is amazing, but the amount of what we don't know is just mind-blowing. While it's a bit of a realization of how small we really are - smaller than it's sometimes possible to imagine, our universe really is astonishing. The images we've been able to capture are stunning and never cease to take my breath away, and it amazes me to think of what's out there, beyond our world, our solar system, our galaxy, our galaxy cluster, and maybe even our universe. One beautiful thing to me are nebulae. Nebulae are huge clouds of dust, helium, hydrogen, and other ionized gases. This is a collection of images from which you can learn about some nebulae in our universe and see how beautiful, breathtaking, and incredible they are. Click the green flag and click the stage, press space, or press the right arrow to advance. Nebulae, in order of appearance: Butterfly Nebula (Caldwell 69 or NGC 6302) - The Butterfly Nebula is a bipolar planetary nebula and is 3,392 light-years away from Earth. Its radius is 1.5 light-years, and is one of the most complex planetary nebulae discovered. Its name comes from its butterfly-like appearance. Eagle Nebula (Messier 16 or NGC 6611) - The Eagle Nebula is a diffuse emission nebula and about 7,000 light-years away from Earth. The Eagle Nebula is a 5.5 million-year-old nebula and is 70 light-years by 55 light-years. It's said to resemble an eagle with outstretched wings. Helix Nebula (Caldwell 63 or NGC 7293) - The Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula and is the closest known nebula to Earth. It's about 700 light-years away from Earth, about 2.87 light-years across, and 10,610 years old. I hope to add more soon! Credit to the Hubble Telescope for the photos. :)
