Galaxies galore

This picture is a multi-wavelength composite made by seven individual exposures made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

This giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1316 reveals the dust lanes and star clusters giving evidence that it was formed from a past merger of two gas-rich galaxies.

Barred spirals differ from normal spiral galaxies in that the arms of the galaxy do not spiral all the way into the center, but are connected to the two ends of a straight bar of stars containing the nucleus at its center.

NASA,ESA Hubble Space Telescope has trained its razor-sharp eye on one of the universe's most stately and photogenic galaxies, the Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104 (M104).

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has used a natural zoom lens in space to boost its view of the distant universe.

In the direction of the constellation Canis Major, two spiral galaxies pass by each other like majestic ships in the night.

Against a stunning backdrop of thousands of galaxies, this odd-looking galaxy with the long streamer of stars appears to be racing through space, like a runaway pinwheel firework.

Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), the newest camera on NASA, ESA Hubble Space Telescope, has captured a spectacular pair of galaxies engaged in a celestial dance of cat and mouse.

This is a unique NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope view of the disk galaxy NGC 5866 tilted nearly edge-on to our line-of-sight.

Galaxies, galaxies everywhere - as far as the NASA, ESA Hubble Space Telescope can see. This view of nearly 10,000 galaxies is the deepest visible-light image of the cosmos.

The graceful, winding arms of the majestic spiral galaxy M51 (NGC 5194) appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space. They are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust.

The Pinwheel Galaxy (also known as Messier 101 or NGC 5457) is a face-on spiral galaxy about 27 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

This mosaic image of the magnificent starburst galaxy, Messier 82 (M82) is the sharpest wide-angle view ever obtained of M82.

This Hubble image of the Antennae galaxies is the sharpest yet of this merging pair of galaxies. As the two galaxies smash together, billions of stars are born, mostly in groups and clusters of stars.

The barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672, showing up clusters of hot young blue stars along its spiral arms, and clouds of hydrogen gas glowing in red.

In the new Hubble image of the galaxy M74 we can also see a smattering of bright pink regions decorating the spiral arms