US News A radio signal is coming from space every 16 days. What the hell is it?

Weighing 184 pounds (84 kilograms), Sputnik 1, a metal sphere with a diameter of 23 inches (58 centimeters), was launched by the Soviet Union into an elliptical low-Earth orbit, giving the Russians a first ‘win’ in the Space Race. The spacecraft completed an Earth orbit every 96.2 minutes and transmitted a series of beeps that could be monitored around the world.

Astronaut Christina Koch lands on Earth after record-setting space station mission

Christina Koch did not set out to break records on her first spaceflight, but with her return to Earth after nearly a year in orbit, her mission is now one for the history books. Koch landed from the space station with Alexander Skvortsov and Luca Parmitano.Christina Koch did not set out to break records on her first spaceflight, but with her return to Earth after nearly a year in orbit, her mission is now one for the history books.

(Pictured) Replica of Sputnik 1.

Laika, a three-year-old stray dog from the streets of Moscow, Russia, was sent up to space in Sputnik 2. Scientists believed animals could help understand the effect of space flight on humans. However, since they hadn’t yet, at the time, figured out the technology to de-orbit, it was a one-way flight. Laika died soon after her flight, possibly from overheating caused by a malfunctioning spacecraft.

American satellite Explorer 6 transmitted crude pictures of a sunlit area of the Central Pacific Ocean and its cloud cover while it was crossing Mexico. 

NASA launched the Pioneer 5 space probe, via a Thor-Able 4 rocket, to investigate the interplanetary space between Earth and Venus. The probe was designed to provide information on solar flares, radiation and interplanetary magnetic fields.

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completed an orbit of the Earth on the Vostok 1. This was Gagarin’s first and only spaceflight. The flight lasted 108 minutes and Gagarin parachuted out of the capsule when it was 4.3 miles (seven kilometers) from the planet’s surface. However, he didn’t man the mission – it was controlled either by an auto-pilot mechanism or from the ground.

American astronaut Alan Shepard piloted the Mercury-Redstone 3 (also called Freedom 7) to demonstrate humans could withstand the high gravitational forces of launch and landing. He completed a 15-minute suborbital flight before landing in the North Atlantic, off the coast of the Bahamas.

NASA’s next science missions will head for Venus, Io, or Triton

Four proposals were selected to move to the next stage of NASA’s Discovery ProgramNASA just gave four teams $3 million each to bring their Solar System exploration dreams closer to reality. Two of the scientific teams have their sights set on Venus, one is focused on Jupiter’s highly volcanic moon Io, and the last is targeting Triton, a moon of Neptune.

Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova completed 48 orbits of the Earth in three days. She was awarded the title of “Hero of the Soviet Union” on return and the United Nations Gold Medal of Peace.

Voskhod 2 pilot Alexey Leonov completed a 12-minute spacewalk when he left the craft to attach a camera to the end of the airlock. An endeavor to mark a space milestone, it could have cost Leonov his life since his suit was over-pressurized and he almost suffered a heatstroke. Fortunately, all ended well and the cosmonaut was recorded floating in space before safely re-entering the spacecraft.

Russia's Luna 9 accomplished a lunar landing by deploying a landing bag to survive the impact. The unmanned spacecraft landed undamaged near the Oceanus Procellarum and the on-board television camera system took photographs of the surface. This was the first time photos were transmitted to Earth from the surface of another celestial object.

Arrokoth, the Farthest, Oldest Solar System Object Ever Studied, Could Reveal the Origins of Planets

Located past Pluto, the ultrared binary object Arrokoth is the farthest and oldest body ever studied up close. Data collected by NASA's New Horizons mission reveals insights about its formation and the origins of the solar system.A trip to the most remote part of our solar system has revealed some surprising insights into the formation of our own planet. Three new studies based on data gathered on NASA's flyby of Arrokoth—the farthest object in the solar system from Earth and the oldest body ever studied—is giving researchers a better idea of how the building blocks of planets were formed, what Arrokoth's surface is made of, and why it looks like a giant circus peanut.

Apollo 8 departed from Earth's orbit at 6:10:17 UTC, going into lunar orbit and circling it 10 times. Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders marked a list of firsts that include: first humans to see the Earth as a whole, enter the gravitational force of another celestial object, to photograph Earth from space, see the far side of the moon and see an Earthrise.

Apollo 11 Mission Commander Neil Armstrong made history when he set foot on the moon. Along with astronaut Buzz Aldrin (pictured), Armstrong landed the lunar module at 20:18 UTC and, six hours later, stepped outside. He was joined by Aldrin some 20 minutes later. Armstrong and Aldrin also became the first humans to take pictures on and off the moon.

Lunokhod 1 was the first of two unmanned rovers launched by the Soviet Union. Weighing 1,667 pounds (756 kilograms), it landed in the Mare Imbrium (also called Sea of Showers or Sea of Rains).

The Soviets launched the first space station of any kind, the Salyut 1 (R), to conduct tests and scientific research in low-Earth orbit. An accident on Soyuz 11 forced the Soviets to halt their space missions as their capsules had to be redesigned. This took too long and it was decided to terminate the Salyut 1 after 175 days.

Want to be an astronaut? NASA wants your application

NASA has increasingly relied on high-tech machines like orbiters, rovers, and landers to conduct much of its research in space. NASA has increasingly relied on high-tech machines like orbiters, rovers, and landers to conduct much of its research in space. However, that doesn’t mean that astronauts aren’t needed, and with a renewed interest in sending humans back to the Moon and then eventually to Mars, the space agency needs all the able-bodied space explorers it can get.

(Pictured) Artist's rendering of a Soyuz space craft docking with Salyut 1.

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project's aim was the first joint U.S.-Soviet spaceflight. With a mission to develop space rescue capability, the American unnumbered Apollo module and Soviet Soyuz 19 docked with each other in space on July 17, 1975, marking the first such link-up of spacecraft from the two nations. The mission also marked the end of the Space Race.

The Venera 9 unmanned Soviet mission, that launched in June 8, 1975, became the first spacecraft to orbit Venus. The craft landed near the Beta Regio area on the planet and took images of the Venusian surface that were transmitted to the Earth.

NASA’s maiden orbiter, Space Shuttle Columbia, was launched with two crew members – John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen. The mission was called STS-1 and Columbia orbited the Earth 37 times before landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California, U.S., on April 14, 1981, becoming the first reusable, manned spacecraft.

Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya conducted an extravehicular activity (EVA) for over three hours, cutting and welding metal outside the Salyut 7 space station. She is, to date, the only Soviet woman to walk in space.

German Man Finds Rock From Early Solar System in His Front Yard

Scientists have released their initial analysis of a meteorite that fell over Europe last September. They report that the rock, the remnant of a daytime bolide that impacted Earth with an energy of 0.48 kilotons of TNT (around this much), is a carbonaceous chondrite—the kind of meteor that contains material from the earliest epoch of the solar system. On September 12, 2019, more than 500 people across the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and the UK reported seeing a flash of light across the sky in broad daylight. The next day, a man named Erik Due-Hansen in Flensburg, Germany stumbled upon a smooth, black, 24.

Space Shuttle Challenger started breaking up 73 seconds after lift-off. It exploded shortly after, killing all seven crew members on-board, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe; she was a civilian selected from thousands of applications for the NASA Teacher in Space Project.

(Pictured, clockwise from L) Ellison Onizuka, McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Francis "Dick" Scobee and Michael J. Smith

Mir’s Base Block was launched into orbit by a Soviet Proton launcher, becoming the world’s first modular space station – assembled over the 10 years it was orbiting Earth. During its 15 years of service, it remained the largest artificial satellite in orbit.

The Voyager 1, launched in 1977, took the first ever "family portrait" of the solar system. It was a mosaic of 60 images that only showed six planets since Mercury was too close to the sun to be seen, Mars could not be detected by the camera and Pluto was too small. The sun was seen in the center as just a point of light.

Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov lived aboard Mir Space Station for just over 437 days continuously. His combined space time, over multiple missions, is more than 22 months. His residency was helpful for scientists to study biomedical effects of long-term spaceflight. 

Mars Pathfinder took four minutes to enter the Martian atmosphere and land in the Ares Vallis region. It deployed the Sojourner Rover soon after, which conducted experiments to analyze the atmosphere, climate and geology of the planet.

The first module of the International Space Station (ISS) was launched by a Russian Proton rocket. The world's first multinational space station would continue to grow over subsequent missions until it became the largest man-made object in Earth's orbit and the largest satellite of Earth. The station has also been continuously occupied for more than 16 years, making it the longest continuous human presence in space.

A Delta II rocket carried Kepler, NASA’s first planet-hunting spacecraft, on its mission to look for Earth-like exoplanets. It would orbit the Sun every 372 days, observing an area and selecting stars for further study.

(Pictured) Artist's rendering of Kepler spacecraft.

American millionaire and engineer Dennis Tito flew to the ISS on the Soyuz TM-32. He is believed to have paid $20 million and returned safely after an eight-day trip.

The NEAR-Shoemaker space probe's mission to Asteroid 433 Eros started in 1996 and ended with the probe landing on its surface. It collected data on the asteroid's composition and magnetic field, with the last data signal being received by NASA on Feb. 28, 2001.

(Pictured) Visualization of 433 Eros.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 delivered the unmanned Dragon cargo spacecraft into orbit so that it could rendezvous with the International Space Station. The Dragon was also the first American vehicle to visit the International Space Station since the end of the space shuttle program.

(Pictured) The Dragon craft is grappled by ISS' robotic arm.

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe reached the orbit of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on Aug. 6, 2014, and its lander module Philae successfully landed on the comet’s surface.

New Horizons space probe, launched in 2006, performed its closest flyby of Pluto, becoming the first interplanetary space probe to reach and observe the dwarf planet.

After decades of eating Earth-packed food, NASA astronauts aboard the ISS managed to grow, harvest and eat red romaine lettuce in space. They cleaned the greens with citric acid-based wipes before eating them.

Russian astronaut Mikhail Kornienko (R) and American Scott Kelly recorded the longest time in space for ISS crew members after their 340-day mission. They were part of a program to study the health effects of long-term spaceflight.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) blasted off 101 smaller nano satellites and three Indian satellites in one go. The combined payload of 3,040 lbs (1,380 kgs) was aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). 

SpaceX sent a previously used Falcon 9 into space, carrying communication satellites. The first stage of the rocket had been used in an April 2016 NASA mission. It successfully returned to Earth and landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. 

The private space company successfully completed the flight of the Falcon Heavy that can lift up to 141,000 pounds (64 metric tons) – a mass greater than a 737 fully-loaded jetliner. During its demo flight, the huge rocket launched Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster and its dummy astronaut, "Starman" (pictured), into orbit around the sun. 

The Parker Solar Probe became the closest ever man-made object to the sun. The record of 26.55 million miles (42.73 million kilometers) was previously held by the Helios 2 spacecraft, which was launched jointly by NASA and Germany’s DFVLR. The Parker probe is expected to approach within 4.3 million miles (6.9 million kilometers) from the center of the sun and the mission goals include understanding the flow of energy around the corona (outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere).

(Pictured) United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket launching Parker Solar Probe at Cape Canaveral in Florida, U.S. on Aug. 12, 2018.

NASA spacecraft New Horizons traveled to Ultima Thule, a trans-Neptunian object located four billion miles (6.5 billion kilometers) from Earth. The journey, which was made in six hours and eight minutes, marks the furthest point in space humanity has explored to date. Photographs sent back from the flyby – the space craft was 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) away – show two sphere-like objects fused together. The largest is believed to be 21 miles (33 kilometers) long.

(Pictured) This image made available by NASA on Jan. 2, 2019, shows the size and shape of the object Ultima Thule. 

On this day, the Chinese government claimed to have successfully landed a space probe on the far side of the moon. The probe – Chang’e-4 – landed in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, according to a statement issued by country's space agency. The event now means China is one of only three countries in the world to have made soft-landings on the moon – the other two are the U.S. and the former Soviet Union.

On Jan. 15, 2019, China National Space Administration revealed that seeds taken up to the moon by Chang'e-4 have sprouted, marking the first time any biological matter has grown there. "Learning about these plants' growth in a low-gravity environment would allow us to lay the foundation for our future establishment of space base," said Professor Xie Gengxin, the experiment's chief designer.

(Pictured) This photo, provided on Jan. 3, 2019, by China National Space Administration, shows the Chang'e-4 probe during its landing process.

The black hole was found in the distant galaxy M87, which is located in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Captured by the Event Horizon telescope, the image marks a first in space imaging technology. The Event Horizon telescope was built specifically to capture images of black holes, via a network of eight linked telescopes around the world.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir made history as they completed the first-ever spacewalk by an all-woman team. The spacewalk was guided by veteran NASA astronaut and capsule communicator Stephanie Wilson on ground and astronauts Luca Parmitano and Andrew Morgan on the International Space Station. It lasted for seven hours and 17 minutes, and the team's job was to fix a broken part of the station’s solar power network.

(Pictured) Koch and Meir with Morgan at the International Space Station on Oct. 18, 2019.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch spent 328 days orbiting Earth on the International Space Station, returning on the Russian Soyuz craft that landed in Kazakhstan on Feb. 6. Her time spent on one continuous space journey exceeds the previously held record of 289 days set by fellow American Peggy Whitson in December 2019, and is shy of the all-time U.S. record of 340 days held by Scott Kelly. 

(Pictured) Koch reacts after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-13 space capsule in a remote area southeast of Zhezkazgan in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan on Feb. 6, 2020.  

This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope released on Jan. 27, 2020, shows the Tarantula Nebula in three wavelengths of infrared light, each represented by a different color.

This still image from video issued by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows Mercury as it passes between Earth and the sun on Nov. 11, 2019. The solar system's smallest, innermost planet appears like a tiny black dot during the transit.

Swirling cloud belts and tumultuous vortices within Jupiter’s northern hemisphere are shown in this image from Juno spacecraft on May 23, 2018.

The lone active region visible on our Sun put on a fine display with its tangled magnetic field lines swaying and twisting above it (April 24-26, 2018) when viewed in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. 

This image captures the swirling cloud formations around the south pole of Jupiter, looking up toward the equatorial region. NASA’s Juno spacecraft took the color-enhanced image during its 11th close flyby of the gas giant planet on Feb. 7, 2018.

Swirling cloud formations in the northern area of Jupiter's north temperate belt are seen in this color-enhanced image taken by Juno on Feb. 7, 2018. 

The diamond ring effect is visible as the moon passes in front of the sun during a total solar eclipse seen from the Big Summit Prairie ranch in Ochoco National Forest near Mitchell, Oregon, U.S., on Aug. 21, 2017.

A total solar eclipse, which provided scientists with a rare chance to investigate the sun and its influence on Earth, as seen on Aug. 21, 2017.

The dwarf galaxy named NGC 5949 is seen in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image released on Aug. 11, 2017.

The moon rises in this photo, taken in low Earth orbit by NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik from the International Space Station on Aug. 3, 2017. 

A picture taken with a telescope shows the Orion Nebula in the sky over the Hanthawaddy golf course in Bago, Myanmar, on Dec. 24, 2017.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot fades from view while the dynamic bands of the southern region come into focus, in this image taken on July 10, 2017, from the JunoCam imager on NASA's Juno spacecraft. North is to the left of the image, and south is on the right.

An image showing an area of active magnetic fields on the sun, captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on July 5, 2017.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule re-entered Earth's atmosphere before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California, Mexico, on July 3, 2017, in this photograph by NASA astronaut Jack Fischer.

A late summer view of the southern hemisphere of Mars is seen in this image taken from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and released on June 2, 2017. Shallow pits are seen in the bright residual cap of carbon dioxide ice. There is also a deeper, circular formation that penetrates through the ice and dust, possibly an impact crater or a collapse pit.

An image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows spring in the northern hemisphere of the planet on May 21, 2017. 

This composite image of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant, was assembled by combining data from five telescopes spanning nearly the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum: the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, the XMM-Newton Observatory, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The photo was released on May 10, 2017.

An image acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on April 18, 2017, shows a rugged cliff edge on Mars. The image was released on June 22.

A composite image released by NASA on April 12, 2017, showing the Earth's full western hemisphere at night. This map of night lights is based on imagery from 2016.

A view of the surface of Mars released by NASA on March 7, 2017, shows viscous, lobate flow features commonly found at the bases of slopes in the mid-latitudes of the planet.

A view of Saturn’s moon Dione released by NASA on Feb. 21, 2017.

The Calabash Nebula in an image released by NASA on Feb. 3, 2017. Taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, it shows the star transforming from a red giant to a planetary nebula, as it blows gas and dust out into the surrounding space.

A composite image, released by NASA on Jan. 5, 2017, contains X-rays from Chandra (blue), radio emission from the GMRT (red), and optical data from Subaru (red, green, and blue) of the colliding galaxy clusters called Abell 3411 and Abell 3412. 

A view of the hillside outcrop with layered rocks in the Murray Buttes region on Mars taken by NASA's Curiosity rover on Sept. 8, 2016.

An image of the Martian rippled surface called Bagnold Dunes, taken by NASA's Curiosity rover on Nov. 27, 2015.

An undated image of Hale Crater taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Scientists reported on Sept. 28, 2015, that the narrow streaks on the slopes could have been formed by saline water.

An image of Pluto by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby on July 13, 2015, taken from a distance of 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface.

German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst took this image of an aurora as he circled Earth while aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Sept. 9, 2014.

Tethys, one of Saturn's moons, is seen from a distance of approximately 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) from the Cassini spacecraft on July 14, 2014.

The ring-like swirls of dust filling the Andromeda galaxy stand out colorfully in this image from the Herschel Space Observatory on Jan. 29, 2013. 

A deep look at the galaxy Centaurus A in May 2012.

The spinning vortex of Saturn's north polar storm is seen from Cassini spacecraft on Nov. 27, 2012. The photo released by NASA was taken from a distance of approximately 261,000 miles (420,038 kilometers) from Saturn.

A composite view of Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy taken by Hubble Space Telescope on April 23, 2012.

An extreme ultraviolet image of the Sun taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on March 30, 2010.

A planetary nebula named NGC 6302, also known as Butterfly Nebula and Bug Nebula, in the Scorpius constellation is captured on July 27, 2009. The image is provided by NASA, ESA and Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA astronaut Robert Curbeam works on the International Space Station's S1 truss during the space shuttle Discovery's STS-116 mission in December 2006. European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang (out of frame) was his partner in the six-hour, 36-minute spacewalk.

The panoramic view of Saturn and its rings captured by Cassini's wide-angle camera over nearly three hours on Sept. 15, 2006.

The Hubble Space Telescope released this image of Whirlpool Galaxy on April 25, 2005.

This mosaic image shows six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star's supernova explosion, Crab Nebula, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and released on Dec. 2, 2005.

Saturn and its rings along with three of its moons (L-R) Prometheus, Pandora and Janus are prominently shown in this color image released by NASA’s Cassini aircraft on Aug. 19, 2004.

Saturn's rings are seen in this image taken by Cassini spacecraft on June 30, 2004.

The Cone Nebula in an image taken by the new Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard Hubble Space Telescope in 2002.

An image of the galaxy NGC 4013, located some 55 million light-years from Earth, taken by Hubble Space Telescope on March 1, 2001.

A picture of the celestial object called the Ant Nebula (a dying star) released by Hubble Space Telescope on Feb. 1, 2001.

This ESA photograph released on Oct. 25, 2001, shows a supermassive black hole in the core of galaxy named MCG-6-30-15 as seen through the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) satellite. With this type of imaging, scientists for the first time saw energy being extracted from a black hole.

The Sombrero galaxy, located some 30 million light-years away, is seen in this NASA image taken Feb. 22, 2000.

The Cassini spacecraft captured Jupiter's Great Red Spot and the volcanic moon Io (L) in this color composite image taken during its flyby from a distance of 17.8 million miles (28.6 million kilometers) in 2000.

A giant celestial eye is seen in this image of planetary nebula NGC 6751 taken by Hubble Space Telescope in January 2000.

The majestic spiral galaxy NGC 4414 as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1999.

The Galileo probe enters the turbulent upper atmosphere of Jupiter with its heat shield below and a parachute above on Dec. 7, 1995. It was expected to relay around 75 minutes of information to earth, before succumbing to the surrounding temperature and pressure. Behind it is the Galileo Orbiter, which was to remain above the cloud level to observe the Jupiter system from above.

Gaseous pillars are seen in the Eagle Nebula in an image captured by Hubble Space Telescope in April 1995.

Neptune's largest moon, Triton is seen in this mosaic of images captured by Voyager 2 in 1989.

American astronaut Bruce McCandless II photographed from the Space Shuttle Challenger during the first untethered spacewalk in Earth orbit on Feb. 7, 1984.

A photomosaic tinted to approximate the appearance of Mercury as seen from the exploratory spacecraft Mariner 10 on March 29, 1974.

View of the Earth as seen by the crew of Apollo 17 in December 1972.

The full moon as photographed during NASA's Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, as the astronauts began their journey back to Earth, on July 21, 1969. The spacecraft was already 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 kilometers) from the Moon when the image was taken.

When Apollo 8 entered the lunar orbit on 1968 Christmas Eve, astronauts Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders held a live broadcast showing pictures of the Earth and Moon as seen from their spacecraft.

Galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163, located 140 million light-years away in the Canis Major constellation, tug at each other, stimulating the formation of new stars.

The Little Gem Nebula or NGC 6818 as pictured by Hubble Space Telescope and seen through different colored filters.

An eclipse of the Sun by Jupiter, as viewed from Galileo spacecraft.

The Curiosity rover took this image of twilight on Mars, with Earth shining as a distinct evening star.

An image of the sun taken by NASA's Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope and the ESA-operated Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft.

An open star cluster called NGC 299 is seen near Nubecula Minor, a dwarf galaxy near Milky Way.

The Hubble Space Telescope captures an expanding shell of debris called SNR 0519-69.0, left behind after a massive star explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.

The composite picture of Helix Nebula is a blend of ultra-sharp images from Hubble Space Telescope combined with the wide view of the Mosaic Camera on the National Science Foundation's telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, U.S.

The colorful nebula NGC 604 is located in the Triangulum Galaxy which is approximately three million light-years from Earth.

A stellar jet in the Carina Nebula is pictured in this undated image provided by NASA, ESA and Hubble Space Telescope.

A composite image of galaxy cluster Stephan's Quintet in the Pegasus constellation, provided by NASA, ESA and Hubble Space Telescope.

A massive black hole is seen at the center of the galaxy Centaurus A as captured by Hubble Space Telescope.

The Hubble Space Telescope reveals thousands of colorful galaxies in space.

Gullies on Martian sand dunes, like these in Matara Crater, as captured from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This Hubble Space Telescope image of a sparkling jewel box full of stars captures the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. It's a composite of exposures taken in near-infrared and visible light with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3.