NASA Dropped New Images of Our Universe That Straight-Up Look Fake

Chandra snapped this image of gases—in hues of pink and blue—bursting from M82, a distant star-forming galaxy over 11 million light-years away from Earth.

Blistering hot galaxy clusters like Abell 2744, shown here in blue, are some of the largest objects in the universe, according to NASA.

This strange celestial object is the supernova 1987A. Shortly after astronomers spotted the massive stellar explosion in 1987, Chandra imaged the resulting X-ray shock wave, shown here in—you guessed it—blue.

Chandra teamed up with Hubble to snap this incredible image of Eta Carinae, a stellar duo of orbiting stars in the midst of a death spiral. Astronomers believe these twirling stars, which are found in our own galaxy, may soon go supernova together.

Even though the Helix Nebula gives off Eye of Sauron vibes, the universe is safe. This image—taken in collaboration by Chandra, Hubble, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer—shows the planetary nebula phase of a star's demise. Here, the dying star has shrunk and has begun to slough off cosmic gas and dust.

This image of the cyclonic Cartwheel Galaxy tells the celestial tale in which one galaxy plowed right through another. This intergalactic collision, in turn, generated a slew of new stars and hot gases (seen here in purple).

When Chandra booted up in 1999, it turned toward the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. The glowing debris shown in this souped-up version of the "first light" image released just last year tell the story of a massive star that died in a brilliant stellar explosion.

Astronomers have narrowed down the date of this celestial event to 1680. There are no records of people witnessing the supernova, but it would have been one of the brightest objects in the sky at the time.