universe

Photograph by NASA

Photograph courtesy of NASA

In November, Nasa released a spectacular picture of Saturn, from the Cassini probe. The image was produced as part of The Day The Earth Smiled Project, in which people around the world were asked to smile for this picture. Our planet is in view, but only...

Between 12 and 14 May, the Sun unleashed four intense bursts of radiation, or flares. These X-class flares are the most intense type known to be released by the Sun. This picture from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the first of these on...

There's a psychedelic quality to this 3D visualisation of cold carbon monoxide gas in the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253 - also known as the Sculptor Galaxy. The colours represent the intensity of the emission detected by the ALMA telescope array in...

Typhoon Haiyan is shown approaching the Philippines in November 2013, where it caused devastation and the loss of thousands of lives. This composite image incorporates data from Japan's MTSat 2 and Eumetsat's Meteosat-7 spacecraft

This stunning photo was taken by astrophotographer Damian Peach with a 20cm telescope on 15 November. There had been hopes that Ison would brighten spectacularly, but little of the comet survived its encounter with the Sun on 28 November

Closer to Earth, and at the same time so far, the robot Curiosity paces since August 2012 desert soil of Mars. Above, a self-portrait of the rover NASA. (Nasa)

M104, called the Sombrero Galaxy, located about 30 million light-years from earth. Photo signed Hubble. (Nasa)

U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke, Expedition 18 commander, photographed during a maintenance operation outside the International Space Station (ISS) in 2009.