This image of galaxy M82 combines several wavelength images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope. X-ray data appears blue, infrared light appears red, hydrogen appear orange, and the bluest visible light appears in yellow-green.

The faint planetary nebula PuWe1 was formed when the outer layers of a dying red giant star blew off. It was taken using a hydrogen alpha filter (red) and oxygen filter (blue).

This dwarf galaxy, known as the Small Magellanic Cloud, is one of the Milky Way’s closest neighbors. It is so bright that you can see it with you naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere and near the equator. The photograph was taken using x-ray, infrared, and other filters.

Faint filaments of the Cygnus Loop near the Veil Nebula. They are the remains of a star that exploded 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. Hydrogen-alpha appears red, oxygen appears blue, and sulphur appears green.

This composite image of the moon combines two images—one of the moon and another of the stars and galaxies surrounding it.

This photograph of the star funnel Sh2-126 was made using the KPNO 4-Meter Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. It combines images taken using B (blue), V (green), I (orange) and hydrogen-alpha (red) filters.

The supernova remnant W49B could be the most recent black hole to have formed in the Milky Way. This image was created from blue and green x-rays taken at NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, pink radio data from the NSF’s Very Large Array, and yellow infrared data from Caltech’s Palomar Observatory.

Columns of interstellar hydrogen gas and dust rise within the Eagle Nebula, a star-forming region 6,500 light years away in the constellation Serpens. This photograph was taken on April 1, 1995 with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. It combines three images taken with separate filters—red for sulphur, green for hydrogen, blue for light emitted by doubly-ionized oxygen atoms.

The North America Nebula sits inside the constellation of Cygnus. This image shows the tip of the nebula through a hydrogen-alpha filter (red), oxygen filter (green), and sulphur filter (blue).

This photograph shows the Wolf-Rayed star blowing off layers at high speeds. It was created using hydrogen alpha (red) and sulphur (blue) filters on the KPNO 4-Meter at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Located 1,500 light years from earth, the IC 1340 is part of a large supernova remnant called the Cygnus Loop. In this image, oxygen appears blue, sulphur appears green, and hydrogen-alpha appears orange.

Stars forming within the NGC 2237 Rosette Nebula generate massive winds that are creating a hole in its center. Hydrogen-alpha is red, oxygen is green, and sulphur is blue.

Sh2-82 is a small emission nebula. This photograph was taken using B (blue), V (green), I (orange), and hydrogen-alpha (red) filters.

This photograph of the Eagle Nebula was made using three filters—oxygen (blue), hydrogen-alpha (green) and sulphur (red).

The Horsehead Nebula is made up of a dense cloud of gas in front of an active star-forming region known as IC-434. At the very left side, you can see Zeta Origins, the easternmost of the three stars that form Orion’s belt. This photograph combines images taken using hydrogen alpha (red), oxygen (green), and sulphur (blur) filters.

This image feature the Cygnus X-1 binary star system, which contains a black hole. Hydrogen alpha is rendered in red and sulphur in blue.

Winds flow from the fast-moving Zeta Ophiuchi star located 370 light years away. This photograph by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope was taken using infrared filters. Wavelengths at 3.6 and 3.5 microns appear blue, 8.0 microns appear green, and 24 microns appear red.

Astronomers can create a single photograph from multiple exposures of the same stretch of sky, as they did with this famous image known as the eXtreme Deep Field. The photo combines 10 years of NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs and features about 5,500 galaxies.

This photographs shows a detail of the Elephant Trunk nebula. It was taken using hydrogen alpha, sulphur, and infrared, rendered respectively in red, blue, and orange.

The nebula Sh2-239 contains two clusters of stars. This photograph combines images taken using B (blue) V (green), infrared (orange) and hydrogen-alpha (red) filters.

Stars form out of the gas and dust at the center of this image, which depicts a dark nebula called LDN 810. The photograph combines images taken using Us (violet), B (blue) and infrared (red) filters.