A collage of bright, colorful images of galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters in space, featuring swirls of purple, pink, blue, orange, and white light against a dark background.

NASA just released a jaw-dropping collection of nine new images captured by its flagship X-ray telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The Universe looks wild in X-ray light, and scientists can study many fascinating cosmic phenomena in X-rays that are impossible to see across other wavelengths, including visible and ultraviolet light.

The nine-image collection looks at a diverse range of objects, including spectacular galaxies, clusters, and multi-galaxy systems.

The first image shows N79, a vast star-forming region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a relatively nearby neighbor of the Milky Way galaxy. Thanks to its X-ray imaging capabilities, Chandra can detect the hot gas that very young stars create as they grow, providing key insights into star formation, including how the Sun formed.

Colorful space image showing a bright, glowing star at the center, surrounded by swirling clouds of gas and dust in shades of purple, blue, and gold, with a smaller bright star at the bottom right.N79 — X-ray data from Chandra is shown in purple, while infrared data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is shown here in blue, gray, and gold. | Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Ohio State Univ/T. Webb et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major

Next up is NGC 2146, a spiral galaxy. One of the galaxy’s dusty arms is partially obscuring the galactic core as seen from Earth — Chandra is in orbit around Earth. In this image, Chandra’s X-rays are pink and purple, while Hubble, the Las Cumbres Observatory in Chile, and the NSF’s Kitt Peak telescope all contributed data, seen as red, green, and blue wavelengths.

A colorful galaxy glows in deep space, with a bright pink and purple center surrounded by clouds of blue and white dust, against a black background dotted with stars.NCG 2146 | Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Infrared: NSF/NOAO/KPNO; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare

IC 348 is a star-forming region inside the Milky Way galaxy. The wispy structure seen in the new image is interstellar material that reflects the light from the cluster’s many stars. The point-like sources are young stars currently developing inside the cluster.

A colorful cosmic scene featuring a nebula with swirling pink and purple gas clouds and bright, glowing stars scattered across a dark space background.IC 348 — Chandra’s X-ray data is shown here in red, green, and blue, while JWST contributed infrared data (pink, orange, and purple). | Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major

M83 is a famous spiral galaxy and a popular target for astronomers and astrophotographers because of its face-on orientation toward Earth. Chandra has detected stellar explosions, or supernovae, throughout M83.

A bright, colorful spiral galaxy with glowing pink, blue, and white regions, surrounded by numerous stars set against a dark space background.M83 — Chandra’s X-ray data (red, green, and blue) is combined here with optical data from ground-based telescopes (pink, gold, and gray). | Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/AURA/STScI, Hubble Heritage Team, W. Blair (STScI/Johns Hopkins University) and R. O’Connell (University of Virginia); Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare

M82 is a “so-called starburst galaxy,” as Chandra’s team explains. The galaxy has star formation at rates tens to hundreds of times greater than typical galaxies. Chandra’s X-ray data reveals supernova explosions that produce gas at temperatures of millions of degrees, extending out into space for millions of light-years from the galaxy’s beautiful disk.

A colorful image of a galaxy shows bright purple, blue, and green clouds of gas and dust surrounded by stars, set against the dark backdrop of outer space.M82 — Chandra’s data is shown here in purple, while the venerable Hubble Space Telescope added optical data in red, green, and blue wavelengths. | Credit: -ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical/IR: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major

NGC 1068 is a pretty close-by spiral galaxy that has a supermassive black hole at its center about twice the size of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Chandra’s X-ray data shows wind driven from NGC 1068’s black hole, which lights up the galaxy’s center in X-ray wavelengths.

A swirling galaxy with bright stars and glowing clouds of blue, orange, and yellow gas, centered around a bright white core, set against the darkness of space.NGC 1068 — X-ray data is shown here in blue, while radio data from NSF’s VLA is shown in pink, and optical data from both Hubble and Webb appear as yellow, gray, and gold. | Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical/IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI (HST and JWST); Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt and N. Wolk

NGC 346 is a young cluster with “thousands of newborn stars.” The most massive stars in the cluster generate strong winds and powerful radiation.

A vibrant image of a star cluster in space, showing bright blue and purple stars scattered among clouds of glowing gas against a dark backdrop. Purple nebulous areas and dense star fields create a cosmic, otherworldly scene.NGC 346 — Chandra’s X-ray data (purple) shows emissions from a supernova remnant inside NGC 346, while Hubble’s optical and ultraviolet observations (blue, brown, and gold) add other rich details. | Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; IR/Optical: NASA/ESA/HST; UV: NASA/ESA/STScI/Catholic Univ of America; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, and K. Arcand

Chandra also observes galactic interactions, including IC 1623, a system where two galaxies are merging. When galaxies collide like this, there is often intense new star formation, which glows across only certain wavelengths. Scientists also believe that the merging galaxies in IC 1623 are forming a new supermassive black hole.

A vibrant, colorful galaxy collision with bright flashes of pink, purple, and yellow light at the center, surrounded by scattered stars and faint galaxies against a dark background.IC 1623 — The magenta seen here is X-ray imaging data, while the red, gold, and gray is infrared data captured by JWST. | Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and J. Major

Westerlund 1 is the largest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth, Chandra’s team says. This “galactic factory” is generating incredible amounts of new stars, and Chandra alone has detected thousands of newborn stars thanks to their high X-ray emissions.

A vibrant star cluster glows in space, with numerous bright blue and white stars surrounded by purple, pink, and golden gas clouds against a dark backdrop scattered with distant stars.Westerlund 1 — Chandra (pink, blue, purple, and orange), Hubble (cyan, gray, and light yellow, and Webb (yellow, gold, and blue) all contributed vital data to this spectacular image. | Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare

For even more amazing X-ray space photos, space enthusiasts should check out the 25 images that Chandra’s team dropped a year ago to celebrate Chandra’s 25th birthday. Chandra is currently under threat of an early cancellation thanks to federal budget cuts at NASA, which would deal a devastating blow to astronomy and astrophysics. Chandra is particularly well-suited to studying high-energy events throughout the Universe, including supernovae and black holes.