#10 Milky Way over a Forest
Here's our Milky Way galaxy, contrasted by a night forest skyline. The Milky Way has a disc-like structure and it was first observed by famous astronomer Galileo Galilei. The Milky Way has a diameter of around 110,000 light years, which means even if you were traveling at the speed of light, it would take you about 110,000 years to get from one end to the other!
#9 Mercury
Here we have Mercury, the which is closest to the Sun out of our eight planets (that's right, eight, Pluto is still on time-out.) This image has been filtered to illustrate the rock and mineral makeup of Mercury. Since it's so close to the Sun, the surface temperatures of Mercury can reach around 700 Kelvin, or 800 Fahrenheit! We love the colors and the clarity of this image.
#8 Orion's Belt
Orion is one of the most recognized constellations in the night sky; it can be seen from around the world. In this constellation, you will find an asterism, or group of stars, commonly referred to as Orion's Belt. In the U.S. you are most likely to get a view of Orion's Belt in January around 9 pm. The combinations of color here are really breathtaking, it's hard to believe this kind of beauty is naturally occurring.
#7 Butterfly Nebula
This is the butterfly nebula as photographed by the wide Field Camera 3 aboard the Hubble Telescope. The official name of this nebula is NGC 6302, and it's shape is due to it being a bipolar planetary nebula, but because of it's shape it is nicknamed the butterfly nebula. This nebula was first observed by astronomers way back in 1888.
#6 A Fresh Crater
Can you guess the location of this crater? It looks like it could be on the moon, but it's actually on Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system. This is considered to be a 'fresh' crater because the rim is still sharp and there isn't much erosion, but it could very well be a thousand years old or more. It's only 'fresh' when compared to the relative lifespan of Mars.
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